Mediatwits #82: NSA Snooping with Help from Tech Titans; Sun-Times Fires Photo Staff

Published: June 7, 2013, 7:18 p.m.

Government snooping has been a recurring theme on our podcast, and this week the biggest revelation of all came out: The National Security Agency has had unfettered access to servers at Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple (but not Twitter) since 2007, according to an inside government source who was horrified by the collection of private data. The source shared a top secret presentation about the PRISM program with the Washington Post and Guardian. The tech companies so far have denied being involved, but government officials have defended the program as important to track terrorists abroad. Plus, photojournalists were up in arms when the Chicago Sun-Times fired its entire staff of 28 photojournalists in favor of reporters using iPhones and freelance photographers. We’ll talk to UC Berkeley assistant professor Koci Hernandez, former photographer at the San Jose Mercury News, on the implications of this decision on the Sun-Times and on journalism as a whole. Then, we shift to the future of political reporting. While politicians are avoiding reporters and reaching out directly to constituents, Politico is expanding with new hires and new missions. We’ll bring on former NPR Congressional Correspondent and DecodeDC founder Andrea Seabrook on the role of political journalists in the shifting digital age. MediaShift’s Mark Glaser will host, along with regulars Ana Marie Cox from the Guardian, Andrew Lih from USC Annenberg and Monica Guzman of the Seattle Times and Geekwire.