We will always tend to gravitate towards the human aspect of any event, particularly individuals. This is why we donate to charities that depict a lone starving

We will always tend to gravitate towards the human aspect of any event, particularly individuals. This is why we donate to charities that depict a lone starving African child instead of millions of starving children in a hot country halfway around the world. He's the face of the leaks in the same way that Colonel Sanders is the face of KFC, and a single limping dog is the face of an animal charity. Without the human and individual element people lose interest entirely. Having said that, every time his name is mentioned it needs to be tied in to the worldwide wholesale surveillance by various governments. Just like businesses need both a product and a brand, the stories should be just as much about him (the brand) and the revelations (the product). I think there's the fact that a lot of people care about what happens to someone who has delivered some vitally important information to the world at large. In a sense, by keeping him in the public spotlight he's a little bit more protected. It's also likely that this latest grant of asylum is a PR stunt, one that wouldn't have materialized had it not been for the ongoing media circus.