This week the Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s highest honor, was given to the reporters and news organizations that broke the stories on US government surveillance. This was from a mass of documents released by former US government contractor Edward Snowden, who released classified documents and broke US law. Snowden is now living in Russia to avoid prosecution in the US. Some people hail Snowden as a hero who should be protected. Others view Snowden as a traitor who should be prosecuted. The video below discusses the implications of the Pulitzer Prize.
For more information on Snowden here are a couple of sources:
—CQ Researcher piece on Government Surveillance
—Overview of the NSA Files from the Guardian
Pulitzer Prize renews debate over controversial NSA surveillance reporting
Description: Journalism’s highest honor was awarded to The Washington Post and The Guardian U.S. for reporting that raised questions about privacy, surveillance and security, despite criticism about whether they should have published the stories in the first place. Gwen Ifill discusses this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners with Geneva Overholser of the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.