Guardian Has Published Just 1% of Snowden Materials: Editor

Alan Rusbridger faces questions over national security
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 4, 2013 9:45 AM CST
Guardian Has Published Just 1% of Snowden Materials: Editor
Editor of the Guardian newspaper Alan Rusbridger gives evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee hearing on counterterrorism at Portcullis House, central London, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013.   (AP Photo/PA)

The Guardian has only published about 1% of some 58,000 files leaked by Edward Snowden—and it's unlikely to "publish a huge amount more," says editor Alan Rusbridger. He spoke to a British parliamentary committee as he faces scrutiny over whether the paper had weakened national security with the revelations, the AP reports. The paper "made very selective judgments" about what to release, and kept names secret, Rusbridger said.

As to attacks from some lawmakers and other officials, Rusbridger noted that national security was apparently "being used as a trump card." "I feel that some of this activity has been designed to intimidate the Guardian," he noted, arguing that publishing the reports was necessary to inspire debate about intelligence practices. The New York Times, Washington Post, AP and other US media organizations signed a letter to the committee noting that "to the rest of the world, it appears that press freedom itself is under attack in Britain." (More press freedom stories.)

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