In the latest skirmish between journalists who want to expose power and those who want to protect it, the exposers won. Take a look at this humungous correction the WaPo just ran in response to Glenn’s complaints against Village Icon, Walter Pincus:
A previous version of this Fine Print column incorrectly said that an article by journalist Glenn Greenwald was written for the WikiLeaks Press blog.The article, about filmmaker Laura Poitras and WikiLeaks being targeted by U.S. officials, was written for the online publication Salon and first appeared April 8, 2012. Its appearance on the WikiLeaks Press blog two days later was a reposting. This version has been corrected.
A previous version of the column also asserted that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, during a May 29 interview with Democracy Now, “previewed” the story that Greenwald wrote for the Guardian newspaper about the Obama administration’s involvement in the collection of Americans’ phone records. There is no evidence that Assange had advance knowledge of the story; the assertion was based on a previously published interview in which Assange discussed an earlier surveillance project involving the collection of phone records. The assertion has been taken out of this version.
The column also does not mention Snowden’s past work in the intelligence community. The lack of this context may have created the impression that Snowden’s work for Booz Allen Hamilton gave him his first access to classified surveillance programs.
The best nugget of the whole thing? Pincus’ column is called “The Fine Print.”
Memo to WaPo: don’t fuck with Greenwald. He’s more relentless than your lazy asses.
The Dish 