13 ms·

US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

869 points by spenvo 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
spenvo 13y ago
Try searching CNN for "Snowden Interview" and there is NO mention of it. Same with MSNBC's search - nothing about this interview in the results. Also, scroll down to user "Nostromo's" counter (claiming the media did cover the story) w/links and then my reply. This kind of blatant dereliction of duty in US journalism (IMHO) presages the governments' plans for controlling the (M)essage on websites. One can only assume they have a turnkey solution to suppress submissions and comments on HN, Reddit, etc. Support projects that attempt to combat censorship at the technological level. This is coming from someone who is working on my own* anti-censorship project. (I care more about the mission than the glory.) retroshare.sourceforge.net promises a great deal and looks OK from a mile-high view (except for mythical documentation). *check profile if interested
- zeeed 13y ago
  the full interview is here: https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en
  - coldtea 13y ago
    Any reason why it's not in YouTube? Copyright takedowns don't usually work that fast, if ever. Also any reason why it wasn't bought and uploaded to other major american media outlets? If it was an "acceptable" political story, it would be all over, not merely on archive.org.
    - nisdec 13y ago
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg
      - tareqak 13y ago
        I get not available in your country (Canada).
      - coldtea 13y ago
        No available in my country.
      - dawkins 13y ago
        Not available in my country (Spain)
    - Buge 13y ago
      Youtube can detect copied videos automatically. Also I had a video that was copied several times and wasn't automatically detected (that's only for high level partners). When I reported the copies for copyright they would generally be taken down in about a half hour.
- DanBC 13y ago
  MSNBC were interviewing a US politician (congress woman) about the Snowden leaks and about NSA reform. They interrupted that interview for some important breaking news. Justin Bieber had been arrested for drag racing his car. http://youtu.be/GH68bSJXGE8 http://youtu.be/GH68bSJXGE8
  - spenvo 13y ago
    What makes it more despicable: MSNBC is aggressively marketed in the image of progressive reform television. To be clear - the US politician wasn't talking about the interview -- but rather the independent review committee's assessment of the meta data collection program.
  - ck2 13y ago
    MSNBC has had some good Snowden coverage over the longer weekend shows which are higher quality. Their hourly shows each day are getting to be more and more garbage. Chris Hayes had a fantastic long-form weekend show on MSNBC. Then they moved him to the hour format on a daily basis and his show went to garbage too as they have him pushing whatever the hype of the day is. And Rachel Maddow now has maybe one good show a month and the rest are just petty garbage ("oh look someone said a word wrong or misspelled something - let's talk about that for ten minutes") What's crazy is most of their anchors are really smart and knowledgeable when you see them work freeform like in an interview. But start scripting them and giving them "must reads" and they all turn into blathering corporate idiots.
    - smithzvk 13y ago
      Yes, when Chris Hayes hosted "Up" it was a must watch each weekend for me. I watched about two episodes of his nightly show and couldn't stand it. Maybe we should try watching the new guy who took it over? I guess it isn't about the competency of the host/crew but rather the fact that pushing out a show every night means that you must degrade the quality of your analysis, guests, and general information that you are reporting on.
  - chaz 13y ago
    MSNBC is following the money, just like everyone else in US media. A 30-minute Bieber special on CNN had their best 25-54 ratings for the day: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/friday-cable-ratings-justin-bieber-special-1-on-cnn-in-demo-and-total/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/friday-cable-ratings-justin-biebe... Also, it's worth noting how much more popular FOX News is.
- pavanky 13y ago
  Before you go witch hunting go read this. http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_blacks_out_snowden_interview_exposing/cf1801o http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl...
  - mbateman 13y ago
    This should really be the top comment. For anyone that thinks there is actually a problem here, what could the motivation or mechanism behind this "blackout" possibly be? Significant parts of the US media have been reporting pretty well on Snowden for a long time now.
    - atlantic 13y ago
      The media discussion so far has centered around personal issues. Is Snowden a traitor, did he give secrets away to China/Russia, should he be assassinated, how is his girlfriend feeling, what did his father say, does he have a new job, etc. This interview puts the focus back where it should be: have intelligence agencies broken the law, have they taken justice into their own hands, have they been deceiving the executive branch, what balance should be struck between security and privacy, and so on. It also puts a human face on this man, who has never been given a chance to explain his motives.
      - srl 13y ago
        No, this simply isn't true. Watch the front page of any daily newspaper - a large percentage of the articles are about new revelations or stories on the politics of a reform bill, and I have not seen a single one (in the last 4 months or so, when my memory is fresh) talking about Snowden personally.
    - fredgrott 13y ago
      ACCESS.. Journalists depend upon access to government officials to report news on government actions.. No Access to those officials virtually decimates both the Media firm income and the journalists income
- icantthinkofone 13y ago
  I worked in the media for umpteen years in the past. Anyone who thinks the US press colluded with the government to black out anything is flat out crazy.
  - Joeri 13y ago
    They don't have to be in cahoots to black it out. The truth is far simpler: the advertisers and the majority of the staff don't like pro-snowden stories.
    - gamblor956 13y ago
      That's quite a stretch to say that the advertisers and majority of the staff at every news station in the country don't like pro-Snowden stories. The truth is far simpler: the German interviewer wants more money for foreign rights to the interview than U.S. stations are willing to pay.
    - icantthinkofone 13y ago
      As shown in the comments here, this "blackout" is false and has been reported. btw, what is your source for "the majority of the staff don't like pro-snowden stories."?
  - thisiswrong 13y ago
    Sure you did. Keep on telling that to yourself buddy. Meanwhile we'll stick to reality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
    - icantthinkofone 13y ago
      That worked out well for them didn't it? Ever hear of Watergate? And, in this day and age, when media scours the 'net for stories to tell, you honestly think not one news organization anywhere picked up on the video? Everyone ignored it? (As already shown, this story about a coverup is false.) And you think I'm the one that doesn't know what he's talking about?
- gamblor956 13y ago
  Blatantly false. A 5 second search turned up the following: CNN covered the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/. ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/german-tv-snowden-nsa-spies-industry-22067496 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/german-tv-snowden... CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-espionage-too/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-... Fox News (AP): http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-also-practices-industrial-espionage/ http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-sa.... And see this link (German) for the explanation as to why this interview was not available in most non-German countries (including the UK) due to copyright licensing demands by the German interviewer: http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-und-die-ard-ein-interview-geht-um-die-welt-oder-nicht-12771773.html http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-un....
  - foobarqux 13y ago
    Clips would be fair use and it's hard to imagine that the cost is prohibitive for major US outlets. That said I don't the interview in its entirety conforms with the style of content shown on US networks.
    - ZenPro 13y ago
      Well since you decided the cost is not possibly prohibitive a media outlet should definitely cover it...
      - foobarqux 13y ago
        That's not what I said. I said cost is not likely the reason it is not covered.
DelightfulScone 13y ago
Well that is interesting. I typically jump to Google News in response to such accusations to show a thread of stories on the subject 'being blacked out.' In this case.. Shows some search results: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=snowden+interview&oq=snowden+interview https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0... Clicking on the '73 news sources' link results in blank thread: https://news.google.com/news?ncl=dePJixL6H8f9VzMIt-2rs1GZLI9BM&q=snowden+interview&lr=English&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xQvuUsTZOonTqgGu24Bo&ved=0CCsQqgIwAA https://news.google.com/news?ncl=dePJixL6H8f9VzMIt-2rs1GZLI9...
- bpodgursky 13y ago
  I see 5 results. Also, if you click on "sorted by date" rather than "sorted by relevance, a lot more appear.
  - DelightfulScone 13y ago
    Here is a screenshot for the blank results when the sources link is clicked: http://imgur.com/63dWPlw http://imgur.com/63dWPlw I don't know what is a tailored result and what is not on sites, specially Google lately. Add in other quirks and you have an unreliable system of communication.
    - higherpurpose 13y ago
      Why are the results so dramatically different? Is Google's "search bubble" that bad?
- bowlofpetunias 13y ago
  "Google News" doesn't exist as a universal source. It is so heavily censored, sorry, "personalized" and "localized" that you will get entirely different results depending on who and where you are.
- gdy 13y ago
  I see 5 too (Russia)
ulfw 13y ago
That's called "Freedom" I believe.
- interstitial 13y ago
  It's one of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: freedom from thought, freedom from knowledge, freedom from privacy, freedom from doubt.
  - cyphunk 13y ago
    And perhaps the most important american freedom of all the right to self selection
- chris_wot 13y ago
  Why do they hate our freedom so?
josh_fyi 13y ago
It's in the NY Times "Lede" blog now http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowdens-german-tv-interview/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowd...
MaysonL 13y ago
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowdens-german-tv-interview/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowd... josh_fyi and I seem to have had the same search result simultaneously.
- jrockway 13y ago
  I also immediately searched the Times and found this as well :) The reality is that MSNBC and CNN don't really cover "news", they cover things that interest the average person. The average person is interested in Justin Bieber gossip, not about spycraft and governmental overreaching. In that case, I wouldn't expect MSNBC and CNN to cover this. If the Times didn't mention it at all, then I was going to be worried. The truly cynical would point out that this is a blog post rather than an actual article, but the quality of their blogs are generally very good, so I'm not going to complain. If you subscribe to the Times and don't read any of the blogs, you are missing out.
throwwit 13y ago
http://world.time.com/2014/01/27/snowden-german-tv-comments/ http://world.time.com/2014/01/27/snowden-german-tv-comments/ isn't censored as far as I can tell. The "Sorry This video does not exist." is a bit ominous tho.
nostromo 13y ago
All from a few days ago: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-espionage-too/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-tv-snowden-nsa-spies-industry-21971023 http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-tv-snow... http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowdens-german-tv-interview/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowd... Just search "ARD snowden" on Google News. Not front page, but not hidden either. Giving the interview right around the State of the Union probably didn't help it get any attention in the US.
- spenvo 13y ago
  These links: a.) lip-service reporting that Snowden was-to-have an interview or b.) reduced the lengthy talk to an inconsequential soundbite. The NYT Blog - 3 days late, is it that hard for such a "renowned" journalistic enterprise? Wow! Props to the Associated Press for writing about something globally noteworthy [sarc.] in an article that few cared to carry or - God-forbid - elaborate upon. (ABC merely picked up the AP story.) That's the very definition of a pathetic free press. None of these links constitute actual coverage or equate to Cable air-time, where millions of baby boomers develop/refine their world-views.
  - wismer 13y ago
    "Yes, but what about..." This is moving the goalposts.
    - cinquemb 13y ago
      Media reporting, on "backwater channels" (ie. Not in the 24/7 news cycle like Beiber's latest hooker or Cyrus' latest thing twerked upon) as far as the majority of the public is concerned, is now moving the goalposts? "Yes probable citizen of an affected country, you may or may not have a right to support Snowden views on the public being informed, but it is too much to for you to complain when we don't use the powers we have to try to inform, like how we inform the public of the most mundane of things, instead of trying to influence public opinion."
_stephan 13y ago
In addition, the video has been taken down almost immediately every time it’s posted on YouTube. AFAIK, the German company that produced the interview didn't sell the international rights to the German broadcaster, which is also why the original video is geolocked to Germany. So I'd guess it's this company that's behind the YouTube takedowns.
- mxfh 13y ago
  It's even more absurd the international rights to the Interview are owned by CineCentrum a 100% subsidiary of Studio Hamburg which is completely owned by the NDR, a Member of the german ARD public broadcasting network. The NDR says it only got the national rights to the video, while the international rights are still at CineCentrum. Originally the NDR didn't even see it necessary to publish the video undubbed to german. Only after some heavy online protests they put the original version online, yet still geofenced to Germany. http://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/44424/nach_kritik_ndr_veroeffentlicht_englisches_snowdeninterview/ http://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/44424/nach_kritik_ndr_veroeff... The transcript is offically available here: http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowden277_page-1.html http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowden277_page-1.html
- bad_alloc 13y ago
  I found these videos that can be viewed in Germany: 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GlYh58cxKY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GlYh58cxKY (Interview with German translation) 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg (Interview in English) Do they work for anybody else?
  - dogweather 13y ago
    Nope - doesn't work for me in the U.S. Can you download it and torrent it?
    - pgeorgi 13y ago
      https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en
gojomo 13y ago
Are there examples of YouTube excerpts that have been taken down? What has been the takedown rationale? (Rightsholder-objection? Law-enforcement?)
joelrunyon 13y ago
Funny they don't even include it on overall timelines like they have here - http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/multimedia/timeline-edward-snowden-revelations.html http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/multimedia/timeline-ed...
detcader 13y ago
It seems clear that the virtual blackout of this insightful interview is yet another deliberate attempt to obfuscate the truth from the view of the American public. The media has continually attempted to shill the official government lies about mass domestic surveillance programs, justifying them as necessary to fight the “War on Terror”, while attempting to painting Mr. Snowden as a traitor. Say what you want about the other claims of this article, this is pretty spot-on and should be the concern of all U.S. citizens (by virtue of, y'know, citizenship). This person worked for our government, and facilitated the release of huge amounts of classified information. This is Of Interest to everyone, whether you love him or hate him.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
maxtheman 13y ago
The full interview: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3a1_1390832727 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3a1_1390832727
dogweather 13y ago
We need to keep our paranoia in check. That article is B.S. — wrong on all the verifiable points. And the rest is just random guesses. I went and checked the German news (I'm American but lived in Germany 5 years, and am still fluent) and it turns out that ARD screwed the pooch on this one: the two most respected media outlets in Germany are pissed off and have written about ARD's shoddy editing and refusal to provide easy access to the full interview. Here are my translations for the titles: Der Spiegel "ARD relegates Snowden interview to the middle of the night" http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/ard-versendet-snowden-interview-vor-mitternacht-a-945657.html http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/ard-versendet-sno... Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ("FAZ") "The Snowden interview is going around the world ... or not? http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-und-die-ard-ein-interview-geht-um-die-welt-oder-nicht-12771773.html http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-... Now, the Spiegel linked to ARD's mini-site for Snowden stuff, which claims to have the full video and full transcript in English: http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowdeninterview101.html http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowdeninterview101.html And then this article all about how ARD at first would only put the interview out with the German dubbing. Then, under pressure, ARD released it with the original sound. But, wouldn't make it accessible overseas... Der Spiegel http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/ndr-veroeffentlicht-snowden-interview-mit-originalton-a-945822.html http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/ndr-veroeffentlicht-snowden-...
- spenvo 13y ago
  The US media doesn't get a pass -- especially print media or long-form web articles on nytimes.com, etc, which shouldn't have concerned themselves with rights to video (see my response to 'nostromo'), but I was unaware of the copyright/licensing issues surrounding the interview until you brought them to light. I am more enraged by the explicit avoidance of the topic by the US media. Thanks for your comment
  - rikacomet 13y ago
    You must be talking about.. Kim.. err.. *Surgician
- 3rd3 13y ago
rdl 13y ago
I believe this is due to stupid copyright issues, not anything particular sinister by the US media. I have approximately zero problem pirating it, so http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1390833151 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1390833151
- tbarbugli 13y ago
  oh come on!
greenyoda 13y ago
I highly recommend watching this interview, in which Snowden clearly explains his motives for doing what he did and describes the scope of the data collection carried out by the NSA and its allied foreign intelligence agencies. While I've followed this story quite extensively, this is first time I've actually watched an interview with Snowden, and I was very impressed with his intelligence, thoughtfulness, depth of knowledge and eloquence. (The interview is 30 minutes long.)
- jpdus 13y ago
  That's exactly what I thought after watching the interview and that's why it is so sad that most of the American public will never see it..
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
  - rasur 13y ago
    Then you won't have much difficulty believing the NSA and their apologists, will you?
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
      - rwmj 13y ago
        Are you saying he made up the PowerPoint slides himself? That they are not really NSA slides and documents?
    - tbarbugli 13y ago
      no, thats not possible; no speech or document can make that easier (well if you exclude brain damage)
- ninjac0der 13y ago
  Nah, the time has passed for stuff like that. It's time to wait for a reset. The intelligent people tried to warn the rest of us long ago, no one cared then, fuck the rest of you now that it's too late. I'll only do anything to speed up the reset... and I doubt the rest of 'you' will be ready for that until things have once again gotten so bad that something else will needed for success. #edit hellban request denied then, I guess. Thanks idiots, it's your site afterall.
thomaszander 13y ago
For all living in the US, proof the story-teller wrong by linking to this video on liveleak on their social media and suggesting their friends and family look at the full 30 minutes interview. Getting to the truth is about hearing both sides of a story, so anyone not willing to listen or let others listen to Snowdens story is part of the problem.
zeeed 13y ago
it's available in full on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en
k-mcgrady 13y ago
Complete made up speculation. I'm in the UK, read & watch the news everyday, and didn't know this interview was happening. It's also the first time I've seen it mentioned online. It wasn't promoted properly. Re: YouTube takedowns - wouldn't it be the producer of the programme taking those videos down? You make it sound like the USG is removing videos from YouTube.
- csmithuk 13y ago
  The news here in the UK is just as selective. The BBC are the worst believe it or not.
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  I'm in the UK, read & watch the news everyday, and didn't know this interview was happening. It's also the first time I've seen it mentioned online. It wasn't promoted properly. It's news, not a brand of cereal. In theory journalists are supposed to occaisionally go and get stuff, otherwise they may as well fire them all and just get a photocopier and put marketing press releases through it. (In some papers I suspect this has already happened.)
l33tbro 13y ago
It's not news because no one cares. You guys all live in a bubble where you think this is the most important issue in the world right now. Maybe it is. But, honestly, no one cares.
- mikeash 13y ago
  Then why has it been all over the news? Why has the President of the United States discussed it publicly on multiple occasions? People obviously do care.
  - srl 13y ago
    And the media has been reporting on that, because that's what matters. It's out of Snowden's hands now, which is why front-page news stories tend to focus less on him and more on actual policy details, and the politics of a reform bill. The media won't report on a Snowden interview, because as bad a state as U.S journalism is in, they haven't yet stooped so low to confuse celebrity-stalking with actual journalism, and they know to keep them separate.
- Intermernet 13y ago
  Are you saying you don't care? If so, why did you read the article, and why are you commenting on it?
Cowicide 13y ago
The Land of the Free, Inc. institutes 'Freedom Lite' for an "easier to digest" corporatist fantasy for public consumption. And, Americans eat it up.
- dade_ 13y ago
  Freedom(tm)
spenvo 13y ago
Other HNers 'dogwatcher', '_stephan', 'rdl' - have brought to light related copyright issues -- which might explain (in part) the lack of coverage on Cable media stations and have discredited the link. That said, the content of the interview was substantial and of eminent importance (newsworthy) for all US citizens. Print media or long-form web articles on nytimes.com, etc, shouldn't have concerned themselves with rights to video (see my response to 'nostromo'). I was unaware of the copyright/licensing issues when I made the submission.
ck2 13y ago
PBS Newshour mentioned the interview on ARD http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/what-were-watching-sunday-15/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/what-were-watching-sunda... but obviously cannot rebroadcast the interview unless ARD gave permission. AP also mentions it http://bigstory.ap.org/article/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-also-spies-industry http://bigstory.ap.org/article/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-al...
- spenvo 13y ago
  If you click through the Newshour link provided... it's a re-tread (a three sentences long mention) of the same AP story provided. The links provided thus far in this thread (of which there are very few): either a.) are reporting that Snowden was-to-have an interview (not discussing the content therein) or b.) reduced a substantial interview to an inconsequential soundbite. The NYT Blog - a blog post 3 days late. Major super-duper props to the AP for writing about something globally noteworthy [sarc., as it's their mission to write about everything] in an article that few mainstream sources even carried. There has been little (if any) meaningful discourse of Snowden's interview in mainstream US media, and, despite the video copyright entanglements - the coverage has amounted to what I'd call a "black out." (The article linked to is shit - as 'rdl' and 'dogcatcher' brought to light - but the point remains clear.) All of this, despite the fact that the topic matter of the interview concerns the future of the internet -- arguably the greatest invention in the history of man.
  - gamblor956 13y ago
    The AP feed is carried by every major and minor newspaper in the country. The point of the feed is that smaller articles can be written once and disseminated throughout the country. Snowden doing yet another interview isn't very newsworthy. He's done interviews before, and he'll do them again. Based on the transcripts of the interview (see other posts), there isn't anything new in this interview. All in all...it's not news and the only reason it even got written about was because its Snowden.
ninjac0der 13y ago
This can only be for the betterment of your country, do not resist.
jlgaddis 13y ago
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:da801929f47900e5d64d20601c5f00001f26bd57&dn=Snowden%5FInterview.mp4
jasonlingx 13y ago
Will this get blacked out on hacker news as well?
- bananacurve 13y ago
  When it does we will know the lizard people got to pg.
d0ugie 13y ago
A blackout ordered by the government, huh. Quite an allegation. But don't forget to consider that rather than the American media, not a small bunch to corral easily, conspiring at the government's request not to report on something "juicy," that the media may have simply had things to cover that they felt were juicier or were perhaps spooked by the incendiary nature of the interview and engaged in self-censorship. And that it's possible American media has a different take on what's juicy and what's become old news versus foreign media. Also consider that with the Internet it's not easy anymore to effectively create a media blackout over something not much worse than what's already been revealed by the media without repercussions. Plenty of hungry journalists looking to make a heroic name for themselves by defying such an order in the name of freedom. Maybe it's true, but it's also pretty far-fetched, don't immediately presume it's true.
- rtpg 13y ago
  The comment on the copyright stuff also seems to be in play. If MSNBC could play some good snippets I feel like they would. There might be some wariness to playing other network's interviews. If I were Snowden I'd try giving an interview to an American network. Though he would actually get some real interview questions(the german interview is only softballs), and would have to defend his position. But I'm sure any news network would love to get that.
- foobarqux 13y ago
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxdSgLmez5Q&t=33m31s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxdSgLmez5Q&t=33m31s
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
smoyer 13y ago
The site is down ... did his server crash under the load, or is the government getting better at blacking out the media? News at 11:00 (or not).
wismer 13y ago
This website, this source for "investigative journalism" includes a video that claims that there's a link between autism and vaccines. http://benswann.com/truth-in-media-vaccine-court-and-autism/ http://benswann.com/truth-in-media-vaccine-court-and-autism/
- meepmorp 13y ago
  Not that I agree with Swann's assertion here, but it should be evaluated on its own, independent of Swann's history of being a fucking jackass. Having demonstrably idiotic opinions on one matter doesn't necessarily make a person wrong on another.
  - wismer 13y ago
    True, but it makes me scrutinize it all the more.
    - meepmorp 13y ago
      This is a wholly reasonable reaction.
zwischenzug 13y ago
NSA leader lied under oath to Congress. Why is this not as big as Watergate?
- brightsize 13y ago
  Yes, exactly. The fact seems to have gone down the memory hole as quickly as it became known. Maybe I shouldn't, but I find it astonishing that the press has no interest in Clapper's action. Evidently Congress and the "Justice" system has no interest either. When Roger Clemens was suspected of lying to Congress about the oh-so-pressing-national-problem of steroid use in baseball, the feds were all over him and he was tried for perjury. But Clapper? His testimony was said to be merely "inaccurate".
coldcode 13y ago
Whether or not there is some kind a conspiracy, which doesn't seem credible to me, the US media could have interviewed Snowden if they wanted to anywhere in the world he felt safe. But they don't appear to care to since it might make that network lose access to politicians and government officials and be branded by rivals as traitors. That's far more likely.
daanlo 13y ago
With regards to the video not appearing on youtube and many other places. The recording TV station that holds the rights to the interview (ARD /NRD) purposefully blocked international visitors from seeing the video through geo blocking, as they only hold distribution rights in Germany. I assume they would also force youtube to remove the video if it is uploaded to protect their copyright. The details as to why and how are explained in the second half of this article (unfortunately in German): http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-und-die-ard-ein-interview-geht-um-die-welt-oder-nicht-12771773.html http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-un... In short it is a copyright fck-up on behalf of the German TV channel that made a mistake when transferring the copyright from its subsidiary to itself. The international distribution right is now stuck somewhere in Nirvana in between the companies, which is why they aren't able to give/sell the video to other international TV stations like CNN, for them to show it. At least this is my legal understanding of the situation. You can use a proxy like zenmate and see the video here: http://m.ardmediathek.de/Edward-Snowden-interview-in-english?docId=19295624&pageId=13932928 http://m.ardmediathek.de/Edward-Snowden-interview-in-english...
- blakeja 13y ago
  Thanks daanlo. I understand and appreciate the concern that others have for this issue, but I wish there was less of a knee-jerk reaction when it comes to these stories. I feel like there many assumptions being made here, as responsible citizens we should be doing our own due diligence to verify the accuracy of articles like this before jumping to conclusions. That said, we need to keep a sharp eye on the government. No doubt.
srl 13y ago
The reddit comment pavanky links to (by Natedogg213) does a pretty good job pointing out the fact that this story simply isn't true, and is really just another case of lazy "mainstream media sux" claims. I'd like to add something from the other end: Yes, it's true that this snowden interview wasn't well-reported on. It certainly wasn't blacked out, or suppressed, or whatever, but editors must not have considered it front-page material. That's because it /isn't/. On days when HN collectively has its wits about it, we're lamenting the fact that too much journalism has focused on Snowden himself, and not enough on the important stories: what was revealed, how the NSA responded, how representatives (collectively and individually), and what the likely political future is for a reform bill. These are stories that give voters important and interesting information, and they tend to be very well covered. This interview doesn't reveal interesting new information in these areas.
- foobarqux 13y ago
  Regardless of whether it is front page material in some objective sense, do you think that if this were a Chinese or Russian dissident it would have gotten more play?
  - srl 13y ago
    No. I've never seen an interview with a Chinese or Russian dissident be particularly prominent.
    - foobarqux 13y ago
      Mikhail Khodorkovsky received fairly prominent coverage recently, as an example.
zimbatm 13y ago
One thing I think they need to cover is how he got hold of all these documents as a 3rd party contractor. Was it just available on a shared file server or did he had to hack into some kind of data store ? I suspect that most government agencies where already aware of the capabilities of the NSA, either because they where cooperating or because it's so easy to get access. If Snowden could do it, how many others did it for private interests ?
- DelightfulScone 13y ago
  I've mention something like this previously, in light of Obama 'conceding' on NSA complaints by suggesting the data be stored in private corporate hands. It is befuddling.
bachback 13y ago
democracy now is a great channel. they covered it briefly. they had Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange many times in the past. http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/28/headlines#1288 http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/28/headlines#1288
josefresco 13y ago
What if "the media" found that insistently reporting on the Snowden story wasn't popular among it's readership? Much more boring than a conspiracy but plausible IMHO.
jobu 13y ago
Occam's Razor - Which is more likely? 1) The US government has persuaded major media outlets CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NYT, etc. to bury the interview. 2) The German media company that did the inteview is asking foreign news outlets for more money than they're willing to pay for the interview (and is protecting its copyright by having internet copies taken down).
- Joeri 13y ago
  False choice. It's far more likely they're not running it because the advertisers and the corporate brass don't like snowden.
  - ceol 13y ago
    It's far more likely they're not running it because no one cares. Seriously, the general public really doesn't care. Why would they report on something that's going to make their viewers change the channel?
- sb057 13y ago
  As shown on reddit[1], this hasn't stopped a number of other news organizations from covering it, but the coverage has been very limited. In addition, Fox, MSNBC, and CBS seem to have ignored it completely. It might not be a media blackout, but this is a somewhat significant story (moreso than Bieber being arrested, which I'm certain garnered far more time, even on the political-oriented stations). [1]http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_blacks_out_snowden_interview_exposing/cf1801o http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl...
  - gamblor956 13y ago
    MSNBC didn't cover the interview because the entity ceased to exist last year. However, its successor, NBC News, did report the interview...6 days ago when it first came out. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/26/22454373-snowden-says-nsa-engages-in-industrial-espionage-german-tv http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/26/22454373-snowden-... This was the first result on Google. Fox News reported the AP story here: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-also-practices-industrial-espionage/ http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-sa.... CNN covered the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/. Nobody in the US regards CBS as the 4th rail of news broadcasting, but they covered it here, with video: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-espionage-too/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-...
lovskogen 13y ago
I hope Facebook Paper doesn't allow these kinds of non-american news sources. It would totally spoil my reality.
shmerl 13y ago
What else could one expect from the Orwellian government? This only proves the point that press in the police state is just a tool of power, not an independent media by any means.
kartikkumar 13y ago
I find it astounding to think that he's my age. His thoughtfulness and eloquence in circumstances that are nothing short of movie-like are incredible. Although this might not have been a hard-hitting interview that tasked Snowden about the manner and nature of his revelations, what is clear is that he is a definitely a thinker. As much as everyone has his flaws, I can only really thank him for attempting to open up our eyes so that we can get a glimpse of what reality might really be like below the thin veil that perceive around us.
tptacek 13y ago
Reddit takedown of this stupid blog post: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_blacks_out_snowden_interview_exposing/cf1801o http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl... Of course, on the Internet, it's not Occam's Razor that controls, but Godwin's, which states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the greatest dramatic implications must be selected.
- foobarqux 13y ago
  The question I ask myself is do I think that if Snowden were an enemy of an enemy (a "good" guy) of the US that this would have the same minimal media exposure? I think "I'm terrified of being assassinated by Russian/Chinese authorities" from a major dissident asylum seeker would be getting much more play. In any case I don't think this isolated interview is very significant in itself.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    See what I mean?
    - foobarqux 13y ago
      Something is true or not independent of whether it is dramatic.
  - roc 13y ago
    > "I think "I'm terrified of being assassinated by Russian/Chinese authorities" from a major dissident asylum seeker would be getting much more play." There's no need for hypotheticals here. When actual Russian dissidents wind up actually dead under extremely suspicious circumstances it actually does not get much more coverage in the US media.
    - foobarqux 13y ago
      I, like almost everyone, heard about Litvinenko without trying. Nevertheless those circumstances are different: A dissident openly slamming their own (non-ally) government is a far clearer message than a dissident dying under dubious circumstances. It can also be repeated indefinitely.
morsch 13y ago
I submitted a Google translation of the German transcript right after the broadcast and the original English video shortly after that. The submissions didn't get a whole lot of upvotes (2 and 5 respectively). I just figured nobody cared. The YouTube video is still up and I was told the video was available internationally, though I did not verify that. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7127368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7127368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7130438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7130438
kevinpet 13y ago
If you say: > The interview has been intentionally blocked from the US public You need to present some semblance of evidence that that's the case. I will grant that it's interesting that this hasn't been covered in the US, but this article is a suspicion being presented as a proven fact.
heroh 13y ago
in other news UK is on the verge of passing legislation tomorrow which will allow Police to SEIZE Journalist notes/files/etc. WITHOUT ANY due process... blatant censorship. If this bill passes there won't be news to blackout. http://rt.com/news/freedom-seizure-journalists-bill-512/ http://rt.com/news/freedom-seizure-journalists-bill-512/
joshfraser 13y ago
Good interview, terrible blog post.
CryptcWriter 13y ago
a lot of media seemed to cover this... even if they didn't link to the actual interview it took me about 2 seconds to find it online...
weintrouble 13y ago
After reading this I need to find a new country mine is broken and I really no longer desire to attempt to fix it.
ZenoArrow 13y ago
Why are people focusing on the 'blackout' angle instead of talking about the content of the interview?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
notastartup 13y ago
I just googled `ard snowden interview` and all the first page of results, youtube, vimeo, etc., are all inaccessible as video is not available. I think I just had a North Korean moment.
bonemachine 13y ago
Nothing conspiratorial in the fact that the networks (correctly) assess that the American viewing public would rather watch Mad Men or Game of Thrones than The Snowden Files, any night of the week.
memracom 13y ago
State-sponsored media. The only kind of media now allowed in the USA.

869 points by spenvo 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

Try searching CNN for "Snowden Interview" and there is NO mention of it. Same with MSNBC's search - nothing about this interview in the results. Also, scroll down to user "Nostromo's" counter (claiming the media did cover the story) w/links and then my reply. This kind of blatant dereliction of duty in US journalism (IMHO) presages the governments' plans for controlling the (M)essage on websites. One can only assume they have a turnkey solution to suppress submissions and comments on HN, Reddit, etc. Support projects that attempt to combat censorship at the technological level. This is coming from someone who is working on my own* anti-censorship project. (I care more about the mission than the glory.) retroshare.sourceforge.net promises a great deal and looks OK from a mile-high view (except for mythical documentation). *check profile if interested

zeeed 13y ago
the full interview is here: https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en
- coldtea 13y ago
  Any reason why it's not in YouTube? Copyright takedowns don't usually work that fast, if ever. Also any reason why it wasn't bought and uploaded to other major american media outlets? If it was an "acceptable" political story, it would be all over, not merely on archive.org.
  - nisdec 13y ago
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg
    - tareqak 13y ago
      I get not available in your country (Canada).
    - coldtea 13y ago
      No available in my country.
    - dawkins 13y ago
      Not available in my country (Spain)
  - Buge 13y ago
    Youtube can detect copied videos automatically. Also I had a video that was copied several times and wasn't automatically detected (that's only for high level partners). When I reported the copies for copyright they would generally be taken down in about a half hour.
DanBC 13y ago
MSNBC were interviewing a US politician (congress woman) about the Snowden leaks and about NSA reform. They interrupted that interview for some important breaking news. Justin Bieber had been arrested for drag racing his car. http://youtu.be/GH68bSJXGE8 http://youtu.be/GH68bSJXGE8
- spenvo 13y ago
  What makes it more despicable: MSNBC is aggressively marketed in the image of progressive reform television. To be clear - the US politician wasn't talking about the interview -- but rather the independent review committee's assessment of the meta data collection program.
- ck2 13y ago
  MSNBC has had some good Snowden coverage over the longer weekend shows which are higher quality. Their hourly shows each day are getting to be more and more garbage. Chris Hayes had a fantastic long-form weekend show on MSNBC. Then they moved him to the hour format on a daily basis and his show went to garbage too as they have him pushing whatever the hype of the day is. And Rachel Maddow now has maybe one good show a month and the rest are just petty garbage ("oh look someone said a word wrong or misspelled something - let's talk about that for ten minutes") What's crazy is most of their anchors are really smart and knowledgeable when you see them work freeform like in an interview. But start scripting them and giving them "must reads" and they all turn into blathering corporate idiots.
  - smithzvk 13y ago
    Yes, when Chris Hayes hosted "Up" it was a must watch each weekend for me. I watched about two episodes of his nightly show and couldn't stand it. Maybe we should try watching the new guy who took it over? I guess it isn't about the competency of the host/crew but rather the fact that pushing out a show every night means that you must degrade the quality of your analysis, guests, and general information that you are reporting on.
- chaz 13y ago
  MSNBC is following the money, just like everyone else in US media. A 30-minute Bieber special on CNN had their best 25-54 ratings for the day: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/friday-cable-ratings-justin-bieber-special-1-on-cnn-in-demo-and-total/ http://www.mediaite.com/tv/friday-cable-ratings-justin-biebe... Also, it's worth noting how much more popular FOX News is.
pavanky 13y ago
Before you go witch hunting go read this. http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_blacks_out_snowden_interview_exposing/cf1801o http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl...
- mbateman 13y ago
  This should really be the top comment. For anyone that thinks there is actually a problem here, what could the motivation or mechanism behind this "blackout" possibly be? Significant parts of the US media have been reporting pretty well on Snowden for a long time now.
  - atlantic 13y ago
    The media discussion so far has centered around personal issues. Is Snowden a traitor, did he give secrets away to China/Russia, should he be assassinated, how is his girlfriend feeling, what did his father say, does he have a new job, etc. This interview puts the focus back where it should be: have intelligence agencies broken the law, have they taken justice into their own hands, have they been deceiving the executive branch, what balance should be struck between security and privacy, and so on. It also puts a human face on this man, who has never been given a chance to explain his motives.
    - srl 13y ago
      No, this simply isn't true. Watch the front page of any daily newspaper - a large percentage of the articles are about new revelations or stories on the politics of a reform bill, and I have not seen a single one (in the last 4 months or so, when my memory is fresh) talking about Snowden personally.
  - fredgrott 13y ago
    ACCESS.. Journalists depend upon access to government officials to report news on government actions.. No Access to those officials virtually decimates both the Media firm income and the journalists income
icantthinkofone 13y ago
I worked in the media for umpteen years in the past. Anyone who thinks the US press colluded with the government to black out anything is flat out crazy.
- Joeri 13y ago
  They don't have to be in cahoots to black it out. The truth is far simpler: the advertisers and the majority of the staff don't like pro-snowden stories.
  - gamblor956 13y ago
    That's quite a stretch to say that the advertisers and majority of the staff at every news station in the country don't like pro-Snowden stories. The truth is far simpler: the German interviewer wants more money for foreign rights to the interview than U.S. stations are willing to pay.
  - icantthinkofone 13y ago
    As shown in the comments here, this "blackout" is false and has been reported. btw, what is your source for "the majority of the staff don't like pro-snowden stories."?
- thisiswrong 13y ago
  Sure you did. Keep on telling that to yourself buddy. Meanwhile we'll stick to reality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
  - icantthinkofone 13y ago
    That worked out well for them didn't it? Ever hear of Watergate? And, in this day and age, when media scours the 'net for stories to tell, you honestly think not one news organization anywhere picked up on the video? Everyone ignored it? (As already shown, this story about a coverup is false.) And you think I'm the one that doesn't know what he's talking about?
gamblor956 13y ago
Blatantly false. A 5 second search turned up the following: CNN covered the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/. ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/german-tv-snowden-nsa-spies-industry-22067496 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/german-tv-snowden... CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-espionage-too/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-... Fox News (AP): http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-also-practices-industrial-espionage/ http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-sa.... And see this link (German) for the explanation as to why this interview was not available in most non-German countries (including the UK) due to copyright licensing demands by the German interviewer: http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-und-die-ard-ein-interview-geht-um-die-welt-oder-nicht-12771773.html http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-un....
- foobarqux 13y ago
  Clips would be fair use and it's hard to imagine that the cost is prohibitive for major US outlets. That said I don't the interview in its entirety conforms with the style of content shown on US networks.
  - ZenPro 13y ago
    Well since you decided the cost is not possibly prohibitive a media outlet should definitely cover it...
    - foobarqux 13y ago
      That's not what I said. I said cost is not likely the reason it is not covered.

DelightfulScone 13y ago

Well that is interesting. I typically jump to Google News in response to such accusations to show a thread of stories on the subject 'being blacked out.' In this case.. Shows some search results: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=snowden+interview&oq=snowden+interview https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0... Clicking on the '73 news sources' link results in blank thread: https://news.google.com/news?ncl=dePJixL6H8f9VzMIt-2rs1GZLI9BM&q=snowden+interview&lr=English&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xQvuUsTZOonTqgGu24Bo&ved=0CCsQqgIwAA https://news.google.com/news?ncl=dePJixL6H8f9VzMIt-2rs1GZLI9...

bpodgursky 13y ago
I see 5 results. Also, if you click on "sorted by date" rather than "sorted by relevance, a lot more appear.
- DelightfulScone 13y ago
  Here is a screenshot for the blank results when the sources link is clicked: http://imgur.com/63dWPlw http://imgur.com/63dWPlw I don't know what is a tailored result and what is not on sites, specially Google lately. Add in other quirks and you have an unreliable system of communication.
  - higherpurpose 13y ago
    Why are the results so dramatically different? Is Google's "search bubble" that bad?
bowlofpetunias 13y ago
"Google News" doesn't exist as a universal source. It is so heavily censored, sorry, "personalized" and "localized" that you will get entirely different results depending on who and where you are.
gdy 13y ago
I see 5 too (Russia)

ulfw 13y ago

That's called "Freedom" I believe.

interstitial 13y ago
It's one of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: freedom from thought, freedom from knowledge, freedom from privacy, freedom from doubt.
- cyphunk 13y ago
  And perhaps the most important american freedom of all the right to self selection
chris_wot 13y ago
Why do they hate our freedom so?

josh_fyi 13y ago

It's in the NY Times "Lede" blog now http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowdens-german-tv-interview/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowd...

MaysonL 13y ago

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowdens-german-tv-interview/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowd... josh_fyi and I seem to have had the same search result simultaneously.

jrockway 13y ago
I also immediately searched the Times and found this as well :) The reality is that MSNBC and CNN don't really cover "news", they cover things that interest the average person. The average person is interested in Justin Bieber gossip, not about spycraft and governmental overreaching. In that case, I wouldn't expect MSNBC and CNN to cover this. If the Times didn't mention it at all, then I was going to be worried. The truly cynical would point out that this is a blog post rather than an actual article, but the quality of their blogs are generally very good, so I'm not going to complain. If you subscribe to the Times and don't read any of the blogs, you are missing out.

throwwit 13y ago

http://world.time.com/2014/01/27/snowden-german-tv-comments/ http://world.time.com/2014/01/27/snowden-german-tv-comments/ isn't censored as far as I can tell. The "Sorry This video does not exist." is a bit ominous tho.

nostromo 13y ago

All from a few days ago: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-espionage-too/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-... http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-tv-snowden-nsa-spies-industry-21971023 http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-tv-snow... http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowdens-german-tv-interview/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/video-from-snowd... Just search "ARD snowden" on Google News. Not front page, but not hidden either. Giving the interview right around the State of the Union probably didn't help it get any attention in the US.

spenvo 13y ago
These links: a.) lip-service reporting that Snowden was-to-have an interview or b.) reduced the lengthy talk to an inconsequential soundbite. The NYT Blog - 3 days late, is it that hard for such a "renowned" journalistic enterprise? Wow! Props to the Associated Press for writing about something globally noteworthy [sarc.] in an article that few cared to carry or - God-forbid - elaborate upon. (ABC merely picked up the AP story.) That's the very definition of a pathetic free press. None of these links constitute actual coverage or equate to Cable air-time, where millions of baby boomers develop/refine their world-views.
- wismer 13y ago
  "Yes, but what about..." This is moving the goalposts.
  - cinquemb 13y ago
    Media reporting, on "backwater channels" (ie. Not in the 24/7 news cycle like Beiber's latest hooker or Cyrus' latest thing twerked upon) as far as the majority of the public is concerned, is now moving the goalposts? "Yes probable citizen of an affected country, you may or may not have a right to support Snowden views on the public being informed, but it is too much to for you to complain when we don't use the powers we have to try to inform, like how we inform the public of the most mundane of things, instead of trying to influence public opinion."

_stephan 13y ago

In addition, the video has been taken down almost immediately every time it’s posted on YouTube. AFAIK, the German company that produced the interview didn't sell the international rights to the German broadcaster, which is also why the original video is geolocked to Germany. So I'd guess it's this company that's behind the YouTube takedowns.

mxfh 13y ago
It's even more absurd the international rights to the Interview are owned by CineCentrum a 100% subsidiary of Studio Hamburg which is completely owned by the NDR, a Member of the german ARD public broadcasting network. The NDR says it only got the national rights to the video, while the international rights are still at CineCentrum. Originally the NDR didn't even see it necessary to publish the video undubbed to german. Only after some heavy online protests they put the original version online, yet still geofenced to Germany. http://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/44424/nach_kritik_ndr_veroeffentlicht_englisches_snowdeninterview/ http://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/44424/nach_kritik_ndr_veroeff... The transcript is offically available here: http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowden277_page-1.html http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowden277_page-1.html
bad_alloc 13y ago
I found these videos that can be viewed in Germany: 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GlYh58cxKY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GlYh58cxKY (Interview with German translation) 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg (Interview in English) Do they work for anybody else?
- dogweather 13y ago
  Nope - doesn't work for me in the U.S. Can you download it and torrent it?
  - pgeorgi 13y ago
    https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en

gojomo 13y ago

Are there examples of YouTube excerpts that have been taken down? What has been the takedown rationale? (Rightsholder-objection? Law-enforcement?)

joelrunyon 13y ago

Funny they don't even include it on overall timelines like they have here - http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/multimedia/timeline-edward-snowden-revelations.html http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/multimedia/timeline-ed...

detcader 13y ago

It seems clear that the virtual blackout of this insightful interview is yet another deliberate attempt to obfuscate the truth from the view of the American public. The media has continually attempted to shill the official government lies about mass domestic surveillance programs, justifying them as necessary to fight the “War on Terror”, while attempting to painting Mr. Snowden as a traitor. Say what you want about the other claims of this article, this is pretty spot-on and should be the concern of all U.S. citizens (by virtue of, y'know, citizenship). This person worked for our government, and facilitated the release of huge amounts of classified information. This is Of Interest to everyone, whether you love him or hate him.

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maxtheman 13y ago

The full interview: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3a1_1390832727 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3a1_1390832727

dogweather 13y ago

We need to keep our paranoia in check. That article is B.S. — wrong on all the verifiable points. And the rest is just random guesses. I went and checked the German news (I'm American but lived in Germany 5 years, and am still fluent) and it turns out that ARD screwed the pooch on this one: the two most respected media outlets in Germany are pissed off and have written about ARD's shoddy editing and refusal to provide easy access to the full interview. Here are my translations for the titles: Der Spiegel "ARD relegates Snowden interview to the middle of the night" http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/ard-versendet-snowden-interview-vor-mitternacht-a-945657.html http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/ard-versendet-sno... Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ("FAZ") "The Snowden interview is going around the world ... or not? http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-und-die-ard-ein-interview-geht-um-die-welt-oder-nicht-12771773.html http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-... Now, the Spiegel linked to ARD's mini-site for Snowden stuff, which claims to have the full video and full transcript in English: http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowdeninterview101.html http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowdeninterview101.html And then this article all about how ARD at first would only put the interview out with the German dubbing. Then, under pressure, ARD released it with the original sound. But, wouldn't make it accessible overseas... Der Spiegel http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/ndr-veroeffentlicht-snowden-interview-mit-originalton-a-945822.html http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/ndr-veroeffentlicht-snowden-...

spenvo 13y ago
The US media doesn't get a pass -- especially print media or long-form web articles on nytimes.com, etc, which shouldn't have concerned themselves with rights to video (see my response to 'nostromo'), but I was unaware of the copyright/licensing issues surrounding the interview until you brought them to light. I am more enraged by the explicit avoidance of the topic by the US media. Thanks for your comment
- rikacomet 13y ago
  You must be talking about.. Kim.. err.. *Surgician
3rd3 13y ago

rdl 13y ago

I believe this is due to stupid copyright issues, not anything particular sinister by the US media. I have approximately zero problem pirating it, so http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1390833151 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1390833151

tbarbugli 13y ago
oh come on!

greenyoda 13y ago

I highly recommend watching this interview, in which Snowden clearly explains his motives for doing what he did and describes the scope of the data collection carried out by the NSA and its allied foreign intelligence agencies. While I've followed this story quite extensively, this is first time I've actually watched an interview with Snowden, and I was very impressed with his intelligence, thoughtfulness, depth of knowledge and eloquence. (The interview is 30 minutes long.)

jpdus 13y ago
That's exactly what I thought after watching the interview and that's why it is so sad that most of the American public will never see it..
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- rasur 13y ago
  Then you won't have much difficulty believing the NSA and their apologists, will you?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
    - rwmj 13y ago
      Are you saying he made up the PowerPoint slides himself? That they are not really NSA slides and documents?
  - tbarbugli 13y ago
    no, thats not possible; no speech or document can make that easier (well if you exclude brain damage)
ninjac0der 13y ago
Nah, the time has passed for stuff like that. It's time to wait for a reset. The intelligent people tried to warn the rest of us long ago, no one cared then, fuck the rest of you now that it's too late. I'll only do anything to speed up the reset... and I doubt the rest of 'you' will be ready for that until things have once again gotten so bad that something else will needed for success. #edit hellban request denied then, I guess. Thanks idiots, it's your site afterall.

thomaszander 13y ago

For all living in the US, proof the story-teller wrong by linking to this video on liveleak on their social media and suggesting their friends and family look at the full 30 minutes interview. Getting to the truth is about hearing both sides of a story, so anyone not willing to listen or let others listen to Snowdens story is part of the problem.

zeeed 13y ago

it's available in full on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en

k-mcgrady 13y ago

Complete made up speculation. I'm in the UK, read & watch the news everyday, and didn't know this interview was happening. It's also the first time I've seen it mentioned online. It wasn't promoted properly. Re: YouTube takedowns - wouldn't it be the producer of the programme taking those videos down? You make it sound like the USG is removing videos from YouTube.

csmithuk 13y ago
The news here in the UK is just as selective. The BBC are the worst believe it or not.
moocowduckquack 13y ago
I'm in the UK, read & watch the news everyday, and didn't know this interview was happening. It's also the first time I've seen it mentioned online. It wasn't promoted properly. It's news, not a brand of cereal. In theory journalists are supposed to occaisionally go and get stuff, otherwise they may as well fire them all and just get a photocopier and put marketing press releases through it. (In some papers I suspect this has already happened.)

l33tbro 13y ago

It's not news because no one cares. You guys all live in a bubble where you think this is the most important issue in the world right now. Maybe it is. But, honestly, no one cares.

mikeash 13y ago
Then why has it been all over the news? Why has the President of the United States discussed it publicly on multiple occasions? People obviously do care.
- srl 13y ago
  And the media has been reporting on that, because that's what matters. It's out of Snowden's hands now, which is why front-page news stories tend to focus less on him and more on actual policy details, and the politics of a reform bill. The media won't report on a Snowden interview, because as bad a state as U.S journalism is in, they haven't yet stooped so low to confuse celebrity-stalking with actual journalism, and they know to keep them separate.
Intermernet 13y ago
Are you saying you don't care? If so, why did you read the article, and why are you commenting on it?

Cowicide 13y ago

The Land of the Free, Inc. institutes 'Freedom Lite' for an "easier to digest" corporatist fantasy for public consumption. And, Americans eat it up.

dade_ 13y ago
Freedom(tm)

spenvo 13y ago

Other HNers 'dogwatcher', '_stephan', 'rdl' - have brought to light related copyright issues -- which might explain (in part) the lack of coverage on Cable media stations and have discredited the link. That said, the content of the interview was substantial and of eminent importance (newsworthy) for all US citizens. Print media or long-form web articles on nytimes.com, etc, shouldn't have concerned themselves with rights to video (see my response to 'nostromo'). I was unaware of the copyright/licensing issues when I made the submission.

ck2 13y ago

PBS Newshour mentioned the interview on ARD http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/what-were-watching-sunday-15/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/what-were-watching-sunda... but obviously cannot rebroadcast the interview unless ARD gave permission. AP also mentions it http://bigstory.ap.org/article/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-also-spies-industry http://bigstory.ap.org/article/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-al...

spenvo 13y ago
If you click through the Newshour link provided... it's a re-tread (a three sentences long mention) of the same AP story provided. The links provided thus far in this thread (of which there are very few): either a.) are reporting that Snowden was-to-have an interview (not discussing the content therein) or b.) reduced a substantial interview to an inconsequential soundbite. The NYT Blog - a blog post 3 days late. Major super-duper props to the AP for writing about something globally noteworthy [sarc., as it's their mission to write about everything] in an article that few mainstream sources even carried. There has been little (if any) meaningful discourse of Snowden's interview in mainstream US media, and, despite the video copyright entanglements - the coverage has amounted to what I'd call a "black out." (The article linked to is shit - as 'rdl' and 'dogcatcher' brought to light - but the point remains clear.) All of this, despite the fact that the topic matter of the interview concerns the future of the internet -- arguably the greatest invention in the history of man.
- gamblor956 13y ago
  The AP feed is carried by every major and minor newspaper in the country. The point of the feed is that smaller articles can be written once and disseminated throughout the country. Snowden doing yet another interview isn't very newsworthy. He's done interviews before, and he'll do them again. Based on the transcripts of the interview (see other posts), there isn't anything new in this interview. All in all...it's not news and the only reason it even got written about was because its Snowden.

ninjac0der 13y ago

This can only be for the betterment of your country, do not resist.

jlgaddis 13y ago

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:da801929f47900e5d64d20601c5f00001f26bd57&dn=Snowden%5FInterview.mp4

jasonlingx 13y ago

Will this get blacked out on hacker news as well?

bananacurve 13y ago
When it does we will know the lizard people got to pg.

d0ugie 13y ago

A blackout ordered by the government, huh. Quite an allegation. But don't forget to consider that rather than the American media, not a small bunch to corral easily, conspiring at the government's request not to report on something "juicy," that the media may have simply had things to cover that they felt were juicier or were perhaps spooked by the incendiary nature of the interview and engaged in self-censorship. And that it's possible American media has a different take on what's juicy and what's become old news versus foreign media. Also consider that with the Internet it's not easy anymore to effectively create a media blackout over something not much worse than what's already been revealed by the media without repercussions. Plenty of hungry journalists looking to make a heroic name for themselves by defying such an order in the name of freedom. Maybe it's true, but it's also pretty far-fetched, don't immediately presume it's true.

rtpg 13y ago
The comment on the copyright stuff also seems to be in play. If MSNBC could play some good snippets I feel like they would. There might be some wariness to playing other network's interviews. If I were Snowden I'd try giving an interview to an American network. Though he would actually get some real interview questions(the german interview is only softballs), and would have to defend his position. But I'm sure any news network would love to get that.
foobarqux 13y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxdSgLmez5Q&t=33m31s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxdSgLmez5Q&t=33m31s

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smoyer 13y ago

The site is down ... did his server crash under the load, or is the government getting better at blacking out the media? News at 11:00 (or not).

wismer 13y ago

This website, this source for "investigative journalism" includes a video that claims that there's a link between autism and vaccines. http://benswann.com/truth-in-media-vaccine-court-and-autism/ http://benswann.com/truth-in-media-vaccine-court-and-autism/

meepmorp 13y ago
Not that I agree with Swann's assertion here, but it should be evaluated on its own, independent of Swann's history of being a fucking jackass. Having demonstrably idiotic opinions on one matter doesn't necessarily make a person wrong on another.
- wismer 13y ago
  True, but it makes me scrutinize it all the more.
  - meepmorp 13y ago
    This is a wholly reasonable reaction.

zwischenzug 13y ago

NSA leader lied under oath to Congress. Why is this not as big as Watergate?

brightsize 13y ago
Yes, exactly. The fact seems to have gone down the memory hole as quickly as it became known. Maybe I shouldn't, but I find it astonishing that the press has no interest in Clapper's action. Evidently Congress and the "Justice" system has no interest either. When Roger Clemens was suspected of lying to Congress about the oh-so-pressing-national-problem of steroid use in baseball, the feds were all over him and he was tried for perjury. But Clapper? His testimony was said to be merely "inaccurate".

coldcode 13y ago

Whether or not there is some kind a conspiracy, which doesn't seem credible to me, the US media could have interviewed Snowden if they wanted to anywhere in the world he felt safe. But they don't appear to care to since it might make that network lose access to politicians and government officials and be branded by rivals as traitors. That's far more likely.

daanlo 13y ago

With regards to the video not appearing on youtube and many other places. The recording TV station that holds the rights to the interview (ARD /NRD) purposefully blocked international visitors from seeing the video through geo blocking, as they only hold distribution rights in Germany. I assume they would also force youtube to remove the video if it is uploaded to protect their copyright. The details as to why and how are explained in the second half of this article (unfortunately in German): http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-und-die-ard-ein-interview-geht-um-die-welt-oder-nicht-12771773.html http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-un... In short it is a copyright fck-up on behalf of the German TV channel that made a mistake when transferring the copyright from its subsidiary to itself. The international distribution right is now stuck somewhere in Nirvana in between the companies, which is why they aren't able to give/sell the video to other international TV stations like CNN, for them to show it. At least this is my legal understanding of the situation. You can use a proxy like zenmate and see the video here: http://m.ardmediathek.de/Edward-Snowden-interview-in-english?docId=19295624&pageId=13932928 http://m.ardmediathek.de/Edward-Snowden-interview-in-english...

blakeja 13y ago
Thanks daanlo. I understand and appreciate the concern that others have for this issue, but I wish there was less of a knee-jerk reaction when it comes to these stories. I feel like there many assumptions being made here, as responsible citizens we should be doing our own due diligence to verify the accuracy of articles like this before jumping to conclusions. That said, we need to keep a sharp eye on the government. No doubt.

srl 13y ago

The reddit comment pavanky links to (by Natedogg213) does a pretty good job pointing out the fact that this story simply isn't true, and is really just another case of lazy "mainstream media sux" claims. I'd like to add something from the other end: Yes, it's true that this snowden interview wasn't well-reported on. It certainly wasn't blacked out, or suppressed, or whatever, but editors must not have considered it front-page material. That's because it /isn't/. On days when HN collectively has its wits about it, we're lamenting the fact that too much journalism has focused on Snowden himself, and not enough on the important stories: what was revealed, how the NSA responded, how representatives (collectively and individually), and what the likely political future is for a reform bill. These are stories that give voters important and interesting information, and they tend to be very well covered. This interview doesn't reveal interesting new information in these areas.

foobarqux 13y ago
Regardless of whether it is front page material in some objective sense, do you think that if this were a Chinese or Russian dissident it would have gotten more play?
- srl 13y ago
  No. I've never seen an interview with a Chinese or Russian dissident be particularly prominent.
  - foobarqux 13y ago
    Mikhail Khodorkovsky received fairly prominent coverage recently, as an example.

zimbatm 13y ago

One thing I think they need to cover is how he got hold of all these documents as a 3rd party contractor. Was it just available on a shared file server or did he had to hack into some kind of data store ? I suspect that most government agencies where already aware of the capabilities of the NSA, either because they where cooperating or because it's so easy to get access. If Snowden could do it, how many others did it for private interests ?

DelightfulScone 13y ago
I've mention something like this previously, in light of Obama 'conceding' on NSA complaints by suggesting the data be stored in private corporate hands. It is befuddling.

bachback 13y ago

democracy now is a great channel. they covered it briefly. they had Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange many times in the past. http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/28/headlines#1288 http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/28/headlines#1288

josefresco 13y ago

What if "the media" found that insistently reporting on the Snowden story wasn't popular among it's readership? Much more boring than a conspiracy but plausible IMHO.

jobu 13y ago

Occam's Razor - Which is more likely? 1) The US government has persuaded major media outlets CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NYT, etc. to bury the interview. 2) The German media company that did the inteview is asking foreign news outlets for more money than they're willing to pay for the interview (and is protecting its copyright by having internet copies taken down).

Joeri 13y ago
False choice. It's far more likely they're not running it because the advertisers and the corporate brass don't like snowden.
- ceol 13y ago
  It's far more likely they're not running it because no one cares. Seriously, the general public really doesn't care. Why would they report on something that's going to make their viewers change the channel?
sb057 13y ago
As shown on reddit[1], this hasn't stopped a number of other news organizations from covering it, but the coverage has been very limited. In addition, Fox, MSNBC, and CBS seem to have ignored it completely. It might not be a media blackout, but this is a somewhat significant story (moreso than Bieber being arrested, which I'm certain garnered far more time, even on the political-oriented stations). [1]http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_blacks_out_snowden_interview_exposing/cf1801o http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl...
- gamblor956 13y ago
  MSNBC didn't cover the interview because the entity ceased to exist last year. However, its successor, NBC News, did report the interview...6 days ago when it first came out. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/26/22454373-snowden-says-nsa-engages-in-industrial-espionage-german-tv http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/26/22454373-snowden-... This was the first result on Google. Fox News reported the AP story here: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-says-nsa-also-practices-industrial-espionage/ http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-sa.... CNN covered the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/. Nobody in the US regards CBS as the 4th rail of news broadcasting, but they covered it here, with video: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-espionage-too/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-...

lovskogen 13y ago

I hope Facebook Paper doesn't allow these kinds of non-american news sources. It would totally spoil my reality.

shmerl 13y ago

What else could one expect from the Orwellian government? This only proves the point that press in the police state is just a tool of power, not an independent media by any means.

kartikkumar 13y ago

I find it astounding to think that he's my age. His thoughtfulness and eloquence in circumstances that are nothing short of movie-like are incredible. Although this might not have been a hard-hitting interview that tasked Snowden about the manner and nature of his revelations, what is clear is that he is a definitely a thinker. As much as everyone has his flaws, I can only really thank him for attempting to open up our eyes so that we can get a glimpse of what reality might really be like below the thin veil that perceive around us.

tptacek 13y ago

Reddit takedown of this stupid blog post: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_blacks_out_snowden_interview_exposing/cf1801o http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl... Of course, on the Internet, it's not Occam's Razor that controls, but Godwin's, which states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the greatest dramatic implications must be selected.

foobarqux 13y ago
The question I ask myself is do I think that if Snowden were an enemy of an enemy (a "good" guy) of the US that this would have the same minimal media exposure? I think "I'm terrified of being assassinated by Russian/Chinese authorities" from a major dissident asylum seeker would be getting much more play. In any case I don't think this isolated interview is very significant in itself.
- tptacek 13y ago
  See what I mean?
  - foobarqux 13y ago
    Something is true or not independent of whether it is dramatic.
- roc 13y ago
  > "I think "I'm terrified of being assassinated by Russian/Chinese authorities" from a major dissident asylum seeker would be getting much more play." There's no need for hypotheticals here. When actual Russian dissidents wind up actually dead under extremely suspicious circumstances it actually does not get much more coverage in the US media.
  - foobarqux 13y ago
    I, like almost everyone, heard about Litvinenko without trying. Nevertheless those circumstances are different: A dissident openly slamming their own (non-ally) government is a far clearer message than a dissident dying under dubious circumstances. It can also be repeated indefinitely.

morsch 13y ago

I submitted a Google translation of the German transcript right after the broadcast and the original English video shortly after that. The submissions didn't get a whole lot of upvotes (2 and 5 respectively). I just figured nobody cared. The YouTube video is still up and I was told the video was available internationally, though I did not verify that. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7127368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7127368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7130438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7130438

kevinpet 13y ago

If you say: > The interview has been intentionally blocked from the US public You need to present some semblance of evidence that that's the case. I will grant that it's interesting that this hasn't been covered in the US, but this article is a suspicion being presented as a proven fact.

heroh 13y ago

in other news UK is on the verge of passing legislation tomorrow which will allow Police to SEIZE Journalist notes/files/etc. WITHOUT ANY due process... blatant censorship. If this bill passes there won't be news to blackout. http://rt.com/news/freedom-seizure-journalists-bill-512/ http://rt.com/news/freedom-seizure-journalists-bill-512/

joshfraser 13y ago

Good interview, terrible blog post.

CryptcWriter 13y ago

a lot of media seemed to cover this... even if they didn't link to the actual interview it took me about 2 seconds to find it online...

weintrouble 13y ago

After reading this I need to find a new country mine is broken and I really no longer desire to attempt to fix it.

ZenoArrow 13y ago

Why are people focusing on the 'blackout' angle instead of talking about the content of the interview?

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notastartup 13y ago

I just googled `ard snowden interview` and all the first page of results, youtube, vimeo, etc., are all inaccessible as video is not available. I think I just had a North Korean moment.

bonemachine 13y ago

Nothing conspiratorial in the fact that the networks (correctly) assess that the American viewing public would rather watch Mad Men or Game of Thrones than The Snowden Files, any night of the week.

memracom 13y ago

State-sponsored media. The only kind of media now allowed in the USA.