Guardian's Deputy Editor Claims UK Gov Threatened To Shut Paper Down

This appears to be the final nail in the coffin of UK press freedoms or perhaps it should now be called "Press Suppression." In light of the Snowden revelations, the destruction of the Guardian's computers and hard drives and the authorities holding Glenn Greenwald’s partner David Miranda for eight hours under “terrorism” laws we have this:

The Guardian's Deputy Editor Claims the UK Government Threatened To Shut The Paper Down

Mr Johnson said the whole attitude in the UK was that national security trumped press freedom and that the newspaper should not publish a word…We were threatened that we would be closed down. We were accused of endangering national security and people’s lives. It left us in a very difficult position.

- Paul Johnson, deputy editor of The Guardian

From the Irish Times we find out this:

The Guardian newspaper was threatened with closure by the British government over the Edward Snowden spying affair, the Radiodays Europe conference has been told.

The paper’s deputy editor Paul Johnson said Britain’s intelligence agencies visited them and told them they would be closed if they persisted in printing Snowden’s revelations of mass surveillance involving the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United Statesand the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the UK.
‘Guardian’ reporting of Snowden leaks threatened with closure, conference told

Glenn Greenwald and the crew at the new web site The Intercept continue to publish the revelations brought to us by Ed Snowden and more. As for the UK authorities all I can say is "Shame for using any means available to cover their illegal and corrupt misdeeds." You have to wonder if that's happened here in the US as well or are the media outlets now so completely docile and controlled it's not even needed.

reply to post by Bassago


Barring any disclosures which cause actual harm (very tough to define, for sure), one of the things that makes western civilization so successful is our traditional respect for access to information as well as disinformation and our presumption of competence to discern the difference.

When we lose this and other traditions, we risk the loss of our very civilization.

reply to post by Bassago


With what seems to be a trickle of releases from a vast amount they have ,one has to wonder . The thing for me is that the five eyes is more true then we have come to appreciate .Every so often one of those members will take a poke at the other and claim "see we are not like them" It's part of the same game they play with the two party system where the have at each other and that is out of the playbook of the Jesuits .All roads lead to Rome .Follow the money and the mafia and the CIA and all other groups and you find some little weasel .The Guardian is only one part of the whole so it's mostly for propaganda . They had to release some and they have but the bulk of what they got we wont see coming out of the MSM that we know have the files . This will only point the finger at them even moreso ....peace

reply to post by Bassago


It appears it is already happening here in the states!

It's called the Shield Law! However the way they are selling it is not the intentions it will be used for.

The bill's protections would apply to a "covered journalist," defined as an employee, independent contractor or agent of an entity that disseminates news or information. The individual would have to have been employed for one year within the last 20 or three months within the last five years.

Chuck Schumer, Author Of Media Shield Bill: It's 'Probably Not Enough' To Protect Glenn Greenwald

Now keep this in mind, it seems that even though this law hasn't been passed. Look what happened today!

Reporter detained by Capitol Hill police for trying to ask EPA chief a question

Natter was eventually let go after police checked with their superiors and ran a background check on the reporter, determining he had the proper press credentials.

So does this mean that us lowly serfs will be forbidden to ask questions without being arrested?? Looks like the 1st is about to go down the tubes!

reply to post by Bassago




I remember when the hacking thing was going on....one of the Guardian employees said that police raided their premises and threatened them, he also hinted at government interference.
This doesn't surprise me at all.
The point of a free press and proper journalism is to expose exactly this kind of thing, to hold our leaders to account and keep them on the straight and narrow.


From all of the cover ups and crimes committed by the Government and Police over the last 3 or 4 decades, I would imagine we have only scratched the surface by uncovering things like Hillsborough and Miners Strike and Phone Hacking and Paedophilia at the BBC and elsewhere.

Something is Rotten and it stinks.

reply to post by seeker1963


It may be that each one of the five eyes will use a different approach to the problem and when they get the right way to go the others will fall in line and pass the legislation....peace

reply to post by seeker1963


Yeah, you're right. Suppression of the press is here as well. Not sure if TPTB have actually threatened to shut down news outlets yet though, that's probably next.

So does this mean that us lowly serfs will be forbidden to ask questions without being arrested?? Looks like the 1st is about to go down the tubes!

We'll have to get our information from alternate media, places like RT (good grief) and the like. Looks like the 1st, the 4th are no longer of much effect with the 2nd under constant fire.

reply to post by blupblup


Well said mate.

Something is Rotten and it stinks.

Rotten to the core.

We need a certain amount of levelling of the land and to borrow another phrase a full system re-boot.

Guns and Butter has a good podcast up with Peter Dale Scott about COG .It's a new one I had not heard and after listening to it, you have to conclude that the US constitution is not in effect and hasn't been for some time now .There is a Q&A at the end ..www.kpfa.org... I wonder if the other countries have adopted the same things . He was saying that the US military can send troops into Canada without permission from the Govt .If this is true then the five eyes may have all gone into a similar COG in their perspective nations after 911 . That may be away around the constituions and other apratices of each country..peace

reply to post by Freeborn



We have very few politicians and others in positions of power to do anything though.

Tom Watson and Andy Burnham are two that have been amazing in their respective struggles and campaigns, but many other politicians honestly couldn't give a **** and most papers have an agenda and wont actually go after serious corruption and run real stories and have a policy of serious journalism.

Society has changed it seems.

People want Flappy Bird and Candy Crush and Facebook and TOWIE and they get involved in causes that have enough "likes" or that their mates PM them about.

WTF happened to us man...

SMH

reply to post by blupblup


9/11 is what happened man. It happened to the whole world ....peace

reply to post by blupblup

We have very few politicians and others in positions of power to do anything though.

We have so few politicians of conviction.
Even if I don't agree with the majority of what a politician says or believes I can however respect their passion, commitment and good intention.
So few now have any of those attributes.

But it seems Parliament only reflects society - image and style come before content and integrity.

Tom Watson and Andy Burnham are two that have been amazing in their respective struggles and campaigns,

Whilst I'm aware of some of their more public campaigns etc I've got to be honest and say I'm not familiar enough with them to give any sort of critical appraisal.
Unfortunately they are probably two of the few 'good' politicians who get tarred with the same brush.

.... but many other politicians honestly couldn't give a ****

I'd say most.
The few well intentioned one's soon seem to get corrupted and enticed into the fold.

The system is self-serving and self-advancing. Priority is placed on maintaining the status quo and the façade that 'they' have our best intentions at heart.
Party politics has outlived its usefulness and is no longer fit for purpose.

..... and most papers have an agenda and wont actually go after serious corruption and run real stories and have a policy of serious journalism.

Because they are part of the charade - the incestuous relationship between politicians / senior Civil Servants / the judiciary / senior police and military personnel / bankers and industrialists and MSM.
It's geared to maintain the same old system that they exploit for their own purposes.

Just as there are a small minority of politicians who are well intentioned and battle to maintain their integrity the same can be said about journalists.
But they are marginalised, demonised and ridiculed at almost every opportunity.

Society has changed it seems.

Not all for the bad....but largely so it would seem.

People want Flappy Bird and Candy Crush and Facebook and TOWIE and they get involved in causes that have enough "likes" or that their mates PM them about.

Its nauseous.....but we've all got our guilty little secrets.

WTF happened to us man...

At times I genuinely despair - but as with most things, I pick myself up, dust myself down and get back to it - above everything else I will always try to remain true to my own personal values.

Airstrip one, or as it was formerly known Great Britain, has finally reached the real 1984, and it's world of perpetual war.

Omnipresent government surveilance, public manipulation and NEWSPEAK, with the inner party prosecuting for thought crimes.

Big brothers will (anti terrorism laws) is enforced for the supposed "greater good" with the ministry of truth telling us every hour that we are at war with terror.

Propaganda and historical revisionism is their forté, as they twist events to fit the bigger picture.

This is now turning surreal...

blupblup
reply to post by Freeborn

 

We have very few politicians and others in positions of power to do anything though.

Tom Watson and Andy Burnham are two that have been amazing in their respective struggles and campaigns, but many other politicians honestly couldn't give a **** and most papers have an agenda and wont actually go after serious corruption and run real stories and have a policy of serious journalism.

Society has changed it seems.

People want Flappy Bird and Candy Crush and Facebook and TOWIE and they get involved in causes that have enough "likes" or that their mates PM them about.

WTF happened to us man...

SMH

edit on 28/3/14 by blupblup because: (no reason given)

Society has changed, it's called the internet. Something of a two headed monster that creates banality, and fuzzy history but also has the ability of immediacy. Mainstream media were slow to react against something that could destroy their next day's elaborated scoop with a few taps of the keyboard, a piece of video or electronically captured secrets.
Just about everything we though we knew about from the mainstream, the printed word, became corrupt and nothing more than a one sided presentation, something that had been going on for a very long time, AGW is a case in point, the leaked e-mails from the University of East Anglia that showed that they were manipulating data, that they threatened bloggers, (not hackers) with 'serious consequences' for revealing the content online. The Baghdad video, exposing the incredibly casual atitude toward collateral damage on innocent people in war.
Thing is, no government knows how to deal with it any more, because their secrets are now our knowledge if you look hard enough, or you have someone like Snowden who saw how fecked-up things had become and has given even more insight into the nitty gritty of what has been going on, even if you already knew 'summit wasn't right'

Assange and Snowden have political asylum, Manning is in prison. That may seem unfair, but he was caught by his own hand and exposed himself in a rather stupid way. The ethics of him being where he is are debatable.
As for The Guardian, I do admire what they/it have brought to the table, but The Guardian too has it's own imposed limits, a catchphrase, " We wouldn't touch that story with a bargepole" That need not mean that the story is rubbish.

reply to post by Bassago

Looks to me as if there's a bit of a witch hunt going down at The Guardian still. I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear the Deputy Editor (or someone who has his ear) following Greenwald on to greener pastures. I'm sure all concerned parties want to keep this as quiet as possible, but you know they're gonna scream "Scandal!!" when there's risk to reputation, position, salary, or freedom.

I have no reason to doubt the veracity of what is being reported/said, but I'm still seeing two 'agendas' just below the surface of this story.

All that said, I'll leave you with one question to crank the common sense generator: In this day and age, do you really think a government in the free world could shut down an operation like The Guardian and get away with it? Come on!!

-Cheers

reply to post by Snarl

In this day and age, do you really think a government in the free world could shut down an operation like The Guardian and get away with it?

If you'd have asked me this question 10-20 years ago my answer would have been "Of course not." Today is a totally different world though, with the UK being a western focal point of surveillance and control (as is the US.) I do think the accusation was probably a bit of hyperbole simply because the MSM owners would be more easily controlled than some of the cowboy editors and reporters. A few calls and veiled threats from Home Office would probably suffice.

reply to post by Bassago

A few calls and veiled threats from Home Office would probably suffice.

My suspicions of exactly what is going on here at this point. Add in the thinly veiled accusation that, "The government is behind it!!"

The Guardian was embarrassed by people with an agenda. They got a lot of attention from the moment. Profit from 'the moment' is falling off ... and now it's time to clean house.

No doubt The Guardian's trusted staff are being fed information to ferret out the moles ... from the exact same sources previously burnt. Self-fulfilling prophecy ... or justice??