The Guardian Partners Up with the New York Times Because America
Irony, thy name is the First Amendment.
British newspaper The Guardian announced Friday that it is forming a partnership with New York's own New York Times, to publish further stories on the secret NSA surveillance practices leaked by Edward Snowden.
The motivation for the collaboration is simple: in order to publish about how America has been curbing its citizens' civil liberties, the journalists need the protection of American civil liberties.
The Guardian explained that it is handing over its scoops about cooperations between the NSA and the GCHQ, its British counterpart, because of America's strong freedom of speech protection and federal shield laws. Britain does not offer its journalists the same liberties.
"Journalists in America are protected by the First Amendment which guarantees free speech and in practice prevents the state seeking pre-publication injunctions or prior restraint," The Guardian's website reads.
The British paper has been under "intense pressure" from the Government Communications Headquarters to hand over Snowden's files.
Although Snowden is aware of the collaboration, he apparently initially avoided the New York Times because he feared it would cooperate with the government after it held stories on warrantless wiretapping during the Bush Administration.
However, the Guardian has made similar deals with the Times before — notably during the British phone hacking scandal and the Bradley Manning Wikileaks stories.
