<
https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/power-media-whistleblower-20191106>
"The corporate press has largely attacked whistleblowers or questioned
their motives rather than analyzing the relevance and meaning of the
information they have released. For example, in response to Snowden’s
leak, NBC’s popular Sunday morning program Meet the Press hosted a panel
titled, “Why shouldn’t you be charged with a crime?”; Michael Grunwald
of Time tweeted that he “can’t wait to write a defense of the drone
strike that takes out” Julian Assange of WikiLeaks for helping Snowden;
and the editorial board of The Washington Post published an op-ed
suggesting Snowden surrender himself.
Among the few who supported Snowden were two reporters—Glenn Greenwald
and Laura Poitras—who were working for The Guardian of London at the
time, and whose investigative reporting helped break the story at a time
when the U.S. press showed little interest in exposing government lies
about surveillance. In 2014, they won the Pulitzer Prize for Public
Service for their reporting on the matter, recognition that shows there
is hope for a vibrant and free press, one that is willing to publish
controversial information to keep the public informed and hold those in
power accountable.
Whistleblowers help keep governments and corporations in check. Media
outlets—and the population as a whole—need to help cultivate a climate
where whistleblowers feel they can safely expose corruption in high
places. This will likely require more independent media outlets to
provide space and safety for whistleblowers to share data and
communicate. While many media outlets accept anonymous news tips,
operations such as The Intercept, Freedom of the Press Foundation,
WikiLeaks, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Government Accountability
Project, as well as filmmakers like Michael Moore, Robert Greenwald, and
Oliver Stone, have specifically encouraged and supported whistleblowers
and have created platforms for them to send large amounts of data
securely. This is a much-needed development in our current culture of
media consolidation, censorship, and increased attacks on both
whistleblowers and journalists."
Via
libramoon@pluspora.com.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
