The Snowden saga: Spies, secrets and security

A look back at the biggest media story of 2013 - Edward Snowden and the NSA surveillance programme.



When on December 16, 2013, a federal judge in Washington, DC, described the National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance programme as "likely unconstitutional", journalist Glenn Greenwald called the ruling "pure vindication" for Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who blew the whistle on activities that he considered un-American back in June 2013. The ruling was a measure of the impact of a debate that, in a matter of months, has led many to question how far governments should be allowed to infringe upon the privacy of individuals in the name of keeping us safe.

For this special edition of Listening Post we look at how the media has been at the centre of the Snowden story from the beginning. Initially, many in the mainstream media focused more on the character of the messenger than the material he brought to light. Later, certain sectors of the press and political life, especially in the UK, began accusing the journalists involved in the reporting of the leaks, of putting national security at risk.