Snowden Calls For Reassessment Of Our Relationship With The Media

Whistle-blower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden calls for a free press that serves the people, which is not corrupted by money and power. “If we can’t have faith in press, we’ve lost,” says Snowden. Journalism is stronger today than it has ever been but is less willing to serve the people. RT reports: He outlines his views on the present state of journalism and the increasing role that those in power play in controlling it in an interview he gave to the Columbia Journalism Review. “One of the most challenging things about the changing nature of the public’s relationship to media and the government’s relationship to media is that media has never been stronger than it is now,” Snowden says. “At the same time, the press is less willing to use that sort of power and influence because of its increasing commercialization.” Part of the reason is capitalistic greed and the 24-hour news cycle, according to Snowden. There is a conveyor belt of information that is aimed more at competition and staying afloat than at questioning the official line or writing a story that would set a source apart from competing outlets. “One example of this is writing counter-narratives to somebody’s exclusive coverage [...]