Snowden And The Press

Here is a review by Gilbert Doctorow of Edward Snowden's book Permanent Record:

https://original.antiwar.com/Gilbert_Doctorow/2019/10/06/who-is-edward-snowden-a-review-of-his-autobiography-permanent-record/

This passage caught my eye:

I am frankly envious of Snowden’s success in sparking public debate on the issue for which he was a dissident voice. We have had no such luck, and, upon reading Snowden, it is apparent why: to bring his case to the American public, Snowden relied entirely on the Fourth Estate, the press.

Journalists like Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Ewen MacAskill are outliers. Although they helped Snowden get our attention, the public debate they initiated has (in my view) done little to stem the tide of the government-corporate takeover of our data and our very lives.

Snowden was a speed bump on our highway to hell. What we really need is a roadblock, and the so-called Fourth Estate ain't it.