The finding that the only safe place to political asylum of Edward Snowden would be Russia or China is sad, by the understanding of the British journalist and editor of Wikileaks, Sarah Harrison, who followed the case closely.
“We are part of the American empire”, she lamented, referring to Europe.
The system analyst, ex-manager of CIA, Edward Snowden, was the young American who showed the size of the shameful spying that United State keeps on citizens and governments worldwide, as said Paulo Nogueira, journalist from DCM. The case occurred in mid 2013. The young American forwarded the documents to the British newspaper The Guardian, and the secrets were published in every newspaper in the world.
The discussion around Snowden matter in the International Festival of Journalism in Perugia, Italy, revolved around the protection of the source (which provides information to the journalist), in a mass control time.
The Guardian
Snowden can be considered a hero by showing how is vunerable and insecure the online world, although for some he would be considered a spy, even criminal. To this subject the consensus will be very difficult, according to investigative journalist John Goetz, from Hauptstad studio. The representatives from Washington Post were invited and were not there. The American newspaper is against Snowden.
Ewen MacAskill, a journalist from The Guardian, one of the first to interview him, told his difficulties during the sequence of interviews done with the American, one in Hong Kong and after in Russia. In the first, in Hong Kong, Snowden was sleeping little and had financial problems because his banking system was blocked. Moreover, according to Sarah’s report, the banking system also from Wikileaks was interrupted.
“I made contact with the direction of The Guardian to help him, but I did not have na immediate response”, he said. “He is a source. If The Guardian pays to a source, contaminates the whole story”, said Ewen. The journalist and writer Stefania Maurizi was also in Hong Kong interviewing Snowden by the weekly L’Expresso, and protects him, is not an spy, and justifies saying that his informations were not sold but offered to publication.
Confidential documents
At the end of every story, the case of the leak of confidential documents of a government such as United States, shows the strength of an economic power and submission of others, the one which bends to the Europe said as independent. The biggest frustration for professionals of media whose got from Snowden valuable information, is the fact that the source did not receive the protection that should by the value of the news generated. Actually, the young American provided a brilliant service to the world’s governments and to citizens who use the web, however, the powers subservient to US abandoned him.
The final question was: Does journalists already have a way to protect next Snowdens who may arise in future?
