SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Greenwald: To Be Vilified by Powerful is 'Enormous Badge of Honor'
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist also says that US government refused to tell his lawyers about possibility of his arrest
Apr 20, 2014
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has now received both the George Polk Award and shared in a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the NSA documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, appeared on CNN to discuss the honors for the first time and said that beyond the vindication those awards have bestowed on the work of Greenwald and his colleagues, it is the continued attacks by powerful members of the nation's political and intelligence elite that convinces him that what he's "doing is the right thing."
"That's just part of what I think journalism is," said Greenwald to the host of CNN's Reliable Resources Brian Stelter. "If you want to be adversarial to those who wield power, you have to expect that those who wield power aren't going to like what you're doing very much. And not only that doesn't bother me, I see that as a vindication."
In his first televised interview since the Pulitzers were announced Wednesday, Greenwald said that most important was the recognition by the jury of the coveted award that the revelations of the mass surveillance program was journalism done in the service of the public interest.
Asked by Stelter about reactions from those opposed to the nature of the disclosures and the reporting--like Republican New York Congressman Peter King who said giving the Pulitzer to the Guardian and Washington Post reporting teams for their coverage of the Snowden documents "was "a disgrace"--Greenwald said he wears comments like that as a "enormous badge of honor."
In the interview, Greenwald also discusses the lengths he went through in order to discover whether or not he would be arrested, detained, or even charged with a crime when he recently returned to the United States, the first time since the publication of the Snowden documents last year.
He confesses having many lawyers on the case, but that none could get straight answers from the Justice Department about the possibility or nature of a sealed indictment or the government's intentions.
His attorneys, says Greenwald, were given no information, they were completely stonewalled, the government wouldn't say if there was a jury impaneled, if there was indictment under seal, if they intended to arrest us, they wanted to keep us in the state of uncertainty."
Watch the full interview:
Glenn Greenwald reacts to winning Pulitzer PrizeBack in the US and now a Pulitzer Prize winner, Glenn Greenwald joins Brian Stelter for an exclusive interview. More from CNN at ...
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has now received both the George Polk Award and shared in a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the NSA documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, appeared on CNN to discuss the honors for the first time and said that beyond the vindication those awards have bestowed on the work of Greenwald and his colleagues, it is the continued attacks by powerful members of the nation's political and intelligence elite that convinces him that what he's "doing is the right thing."
"That's just part of what I think journalism is," said Greenwald to the host of CNN's Reliable Resources Brian Stelter. "If you want to be adversarial to those who wield power, you have to expect that those who wield power aren't going to like what you're doing very much. And not only that doesn't bother me, I see that as a vindication."
In his first televised interview since the Pulitzers were announced Wednesday, Greenwald said that most important was the recognition by the jury of the coveted award that the revelations of the mass surveillance program was journalism done in the service of the public interest.
Asked by Stelter about reactions from those opposed to the nature of the disclosures and the reporting--like Republican New York Congressman Peter King who said giving the Pulitzer to the Guardian and Washington Post reporting teams for their coverage of the Snowden documents "was "a disgrace"--Greenwald said he wears comments like that as a "enormous badge of honor."
In the interview, Greenwald also discusses the lengths he went through in order to discover whether or not he would be arrested, detained, or even charged with a crime when he recently returned to the United States, the first time since the publication of the Snowden documents last year.
He confesses having many lawyers on the case, but that none could get straight answers from the Justice Department about the possibility or nature of a sealed indictment or the government's intentions.
His attorneys, says Greenwald, were given no information, they were completely stonewalled, the government wouldn't say if there was a jury impaneled, if there was indictment under seal, if they intended to arrest us, they wanted to keep us in the state of uncertainty."
Watch the full interview:
Glenn Greenwald reacts to winning Pulitzer PrizeBack in the US and now a Pulitzer Prize winner, Glenn Greenwald joins Brian Stelter for an exclusive interview. More from CNN at ...
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has now received both the George Polk Award and shared in a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the NSA documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, appeared on CNN to discuss the honors for the first time and said that beyond the vindication those awards have bestowed on the work of Greenwald and his colleagues, it is the continued attacks by powerful members of the nation's political and intelligence elite that convinces him that what he's "doing is the right thing."
"That's just part of what I think journalism is," said Greenwald to the host of CNN's Reliable Resources Brian Stelter. "If you want to be adversarial to those who wield power, you have to expect that those who wield power aren't going to like what you're doing very much. And not only that doesn't bother me, I see that as a vindication."
In his first televised interview since the Pulitzers were announced Wednesday, Greenwald said that most important was the recognition by the jury of the coveted award that the revelations of the mass surveillance program was journalism done in the service of the public interest.
Asked by Stelter about reactions from those opposed to the nature of the disclosures and the reporting--like Republican New York Congressman Peter King who said giving the Pulitzer to the Guardian and Washington Post reporting teams for their coverage of the Snowden documents "was "a disgrace"--Greenwald said he wears comments like that as a "enormous badge of honor."
In the interview, Greenwald also discusses the lengths he went through in order to discover whether or not he would be arrested, detained, or even charged with a crime when he recently returned to the United States, the first time since the publication of the Snowden documents last year.
He confesses having many lawyers on the case, but that none could get straight answers from the Justice Department about the possibility or nature of a sealed indictment or the government's intentions.
His attorneys, says Greenwald, were given no information, they were completely stonewalled, the government wouldn't say if there was a jury impaneled, if there was indictment under seal, if they intended to arrest us, they wanted to keep us in the state of uncertainty."
Watch the full interview:
Glenn Greenwald reacts to winning Pulitzer PrizeBack in the US and now a Pulitzer Prize winner, Glenn Greenwald joins Brian Stelter for an exclusive interview. More from CNN at ...
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy