Juan Cole: Top 6 Pulitzer Prize ‘Traitors’ in American Journalism - Juan Cole - Truthdig
Juan Cole: Top 6 Pulitzer Prize ‘Traitors’ in American Journalism - Juan Cole - Truthdig
The Pulitzer Prize committee’s opinion that Edward Snowden is a
public servant rather than a traitor or criminal, as evidenced in its
award to The Guardian and The Washington Post for their reporting from
his trove of government documents, is a scandal on the American Right.
But it is not a new scandal. Journalism is about the public’s right to
know what our government is up to. The National Security State is about
preventing us from knowing what it is up to. The potential for black
cells to operate within the secret government, beyond oversight of any
elected official, should be obvious. Those who value order and
authority and obedience over critical public debate abhor investigative
journalism. Always have, always will. Voltaire had to flee several
courts and several cities over the course of his lifetime, because of
his writings, under threat of arbitrary royal decrees.
The other impact of the Pulitzer to The Guardian (USA edn) is to lay
to rest the question of whether Glenn Greenwald is a journalist. Of
course he is, and a very good one, but the middle-of-the-road American
tradition of faux ‘objectivity’ of tone in journalism had led some to
view him as an ‘activist.’ Note that Judith Miller was not tagged in a
similar way, so apparently having strong commitments is only bad if they
rock the boat of the Establishment.
