New York Times Dangerously Ignores Its Own Words In Calling For Extradition of Edward Snowden

[kpete]

New York Times Dangerously Ignores Its Own Words In Calling For Extradition of Edward Snowden

It’s important to point out that the New York Times editorial board is independent of New York Times journalists, many of whom may be ashamed that their paper implicitly told future sources of secret information that they will not protect them under government pressure. Notably, just last week, after Jeffrey Toobin said on CNN that Edward Snowden committed a crime worthy of jail, New York Times reporter James Risen shot back: “We wouldn’t be having this discussion if it wasn’t for him. That’s the thing I don’t understand about the climate in Washington these days, is that people want to have debates on television and elsewhere, but then you want to throw the people who start the debates in jail.”

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Finally, the New York Times ended its Snowden statement yesterday by saying this:

And does he really feel safer in a country where Mr. Putin, an increasingly authoritarian leader, has jailed and persecuted his critics?

It should go without saying that Putin’s treatment of whistleblowers and journalists in his own country is deplorable, but that does not delegitimize Snowden’s asylum claim in any way. Right now, he is walking around a free man, able to contribute to the ongoing debate in the US if he so wishes. That almost certainly “feels safer” than being locked in a cage, held incommunicado, possibly surrounded by violent criminals, and facing life in prison, as he would be if he came home.

MORE:
https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/blog/2013/08/new-york-times-dangerously-ignores-its-own-words-calling-extradition-edward-snowden
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/opinion/whats-the-point-of-a-summit.html?ref=opinion

[Hydra]

1. The fact that we're even having a discussion like this is a major fail

Bushco's operations should have been shut down and dismantled. Instead they have been expanded and protected with better secrecy...and Snowden is having to hope Putin will not hand him over to us for a party favor.