Greenwald and Snowden saved the media from itself
David Sirota: For all the scoffing among "journalists" at Glenn Greenwald, Americans trust the media more after his disclosures. ■ There should be no doubt that the whistle-blowing of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and the reporting by Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian together comprise the single biggest ongoing media story of the last few months — and it has truly been a media story. Indeed, unlike the journalism that surrounds a spontaneous event like a natural disaster, the reporting surrounding the NSA disclosures is, in part, about the fundamental relationship between the press and the government. More specifically, as Snowden himself said, it is about “the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government” by publishing material the government wants to keep secret.