Greenwald Gets CNN to Delete Snowden Tweet: ‘Even for You, This Is Remarkably Reckless’
All it took was one tweet from Glenn Greenwald. At least that’s the way it seemed Tuesday morning after the journalist shamed CNN into deleting a tweet that claimed Edward Snowden had offered to “spy” on the United States for the Brazilian government.
First, CNN sent out the tweet below:
Moments later, Greenwald castigated the company for sending out the “remarkably reckless and false” information:
Dear CNN: even for you, this is so remarkably reckless and false that it's shocking https://t.co/p5u3EkOvKN
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 17, 2013
He then commended them for doing the “right thing” and deleting it:
CNN did the right thing and deleted that tweet
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 17, 2013
CNN replaced the earlier tweet with one that removed the word “spy” from the text and focuses on the actual subject of their piece, which concerns Snowden’s to “help investigate U.S. surveillance of Brazilian citizens.”
#NSA leaker Edward Snowden is offering to help investigate U.S. surveillance of Brazilian citizens. http://t.co/DJBad2mfuN
— CNN (@CNN) December 17, 2013
In a subsequent tweet, CNN acknowledged the “erroneous” version and said they “regret the error”:
We deleted an earlier and erroneous tweet on this topic. We regret the error and thank our followers for the feedback.
— CNN (@CNN) December 17, 2013
CNN’s story about Snowden’s open letter to the people of Brazil makes no similar intimations that the exiled former NSA contractor had offered to “spy” on the U.S. In a statement on the matter, Greenwald said Snowden’s letter is “being wildly misreported” and does not represent a new request for asylum.
[images via Twitter]
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