Sum Ming Cheung (Samuel) Mr. Ambler ENG 107 First Year Composition November 4th, 2013

A Brave Deed
Is risk taking an essential component for writers ? It is now very common for many writers to produce their work and think of the idea of “playing safe”. It is reasonable for writers to w want to secure their job as this field is very narrow and challenging. Working for Guardian newspaper, Glenn Greenwald and his team writes about the United States government’s surveillance towards their citizens and through the examples he researched with the help of former central intelligence agency employee, Edward Snowden. The article is a clear example of how a writer demonstrates the skill of risk taking. Greenwald took three main risks which includes the possibility of losing his life for reporting such sensitive information as well as not being allowed to enter the country and that his American passport would be cancelled to losing his job and receive criticism. The approach that Greenwald and his team took by secretly interviewing Snowden to publishing the article is a whole process of taking risks and being able to broadcast the truth to the public. The article “Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations” written and researched by Glenn Greenwald and his team.The article discusses the issue of the American government spying on their own citizens to sharing intelligence with Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters. Through interviewing Edward Snowden, a former central intelligence agency, the team has been able to gather detail information such as the core program of the national security agency called “Prism” which is similar to a database in which the

government has access to very private information of a normal person around the world as long as they use the networks that participates in the program.Once the article was published, it impacted United States and their allies.As Snowden fled to Hong Kong for numerous weeks, and then leaving to Russia, it has caused tense relationship between the parties, causing it become a world known topic. In today’s society, technology has been dominating our lives and that all humans are becoming dependent on. Greenwald usually writes with his laptop and sends it over to his colleagues to publish the article. However, prior to the writing about the American government’s surveillance program, he has written other articles online and publishing by himself. When articles are published online, it is very likely the audience of the people would become more diverse. The audience of this article is from teenagers that are spending an extreme amount on social networking sites to every single person that uses a computer as it could affect them. As Snowden mentioned in his interview with Greenwald, if has an email of the target, he can pull up everything that relates to that person. The article is written in a way to alert computer users about their identity online and that privacy is important when accessing a computer. If privacy settings are not adjusted to the user’s preference, it would be a risk as information can be recorded. Greenwald demonstrates risk taking skills to analyse to the audience in how the internet is a double edge blade. What is risk to you? In this article, readers may find the article shocking to read as computers has been slowly accustomed into our daily lives and drastically change how we operate during our spare time and work. Greenwald shows the characteristics of taking risks throughout this article. When writing about such sensitive topic, he could possibly endanger his life, being banned to enter United States due to assisting Snowden and also chances of losing his job as a writer due to disapproval by the public. Within the main article that Greenwald published, there

were also more related topics such as and in depth explanation of the “Prism” surveillance program generated by the American government to articles where he writes about being approached by Snowden through encrypted emails. “You have no idea what you’re into here. These people will kill you if they have to.” This is one of the lines said by Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) in the movie the movie “Bourne Ultimatum” to the reporter whom carries national security level data during the scene in the train station when being chased by CIA agents. Revealing highly classified national files may seem like it would only happen in Hollywood movies.However, it could happen in reality because a lot of what happens in today’s society can be reflected into movies. Greenwald could possibly result in to a similar situation just because of exposing highly sensitive information. When interviewed by New York Times, Greenwald and one of his teammates Laura Poitras, were asked about establishing a meeting with Snowden. The two were told by Snowden through encrypted email to meet in Hong Kong and was given instruction to wait at a restaurant and look for a man with a rubik’s cube. Greenwald and his team would have put their lives into danger as they may get threatened by the American government. “We would remove the batteries from our mobile phones and put them in refrigerator of Snowden's minibar, and placed pillows around the door to prevent anyone outside the room to listen in on their conversations.” said Greenwald. This shows the importance of being safe and secure while conducting an interview with Snowden as well as analysing the files that Snowden has. Although Snowden has left Hong Kong and flee to Russia, the possibility of the American government seeking revenge towards Greenwald and his team still exists, since they all have viewed the files that Snowden has stole. Through the process of meeting with Snowden, to conducting the interview and processing the information, Greenwald and his team have jeopardise their lives to retrieve strong evidence support their work pieces reported to the audience.

Is it necessary for Greenwald whose nationality is American to report such information to the world, knowing that it can affect the American government? When Snowden fled to Hong Kong, the American government has taken in to action to charge him with theft of government property and has terminated his passport. Greenwald would be unlikely to be prosecuted with any charges but may suffer from losing his identity as an American. Currently Greenwald lives in Rio De Janeiro with his partner, he spends most of his time playing with his dogs and reads blogs online. With the help of the internet, it allows his job to become more convenient. Although

Greenwald has immigrated to Brazil early 2001, if he loses his American identity, it is unlikely that he is allowed into American territory. Is it worth it? Greenwald would not be able to see his family that supported him and also his friends. It may seem that the friendship and family are minor aspects but these are very simple core necessities of a human being. Greenwald demonstrates the essential trait of a reporter of responsibility. Reporters should be responsible to letting the public acknowledging what is happening in the world. With the whistleblower’s information, Greenwald shows the courage of reporting while knowing that the he could potentially lose his identity as an American. Jobs are very crucial for every person, as it provides us money to support for ourselves and families, injecting cash for us to spend on our wants and needs. The words that an employee would never want to hear coming out from their employer’s mouth would be “YOU’RE FIRED!” Glenn Greenwald mentions in the interview that he was uncertain to whether believe Snowden when communicating with him through encrypted email. He did not know if he it was fake or it was a scam. His risk of continuing the case would affect his job in the Guardian. Based on what he had before meeting with Snowden and conducting the interview, he does not have absolute idea whether the information that he reports is genuine.. However, when the dates start to get closer, and when he first met Snowden, he said that he felt nervous due to the fact that Snowden

shows him the data that he has with five of his computers that he carried with him, even when viewing the data, he was asked by Snowden to cover the camera with red cloth to avoid surveillance from the government. Greenwald could have believed that it was a scam and not decide to work with Snowden and continued to earn his salary. He decided to take the risk of trusting and believe Snowden. If the research he and his team collected and after all that months of planning results be all fake,, he would suffer from major criticism from the public and ultimately harm his career as a journalist and his future in the journalism industry. Is it worth all the nuisance just to get more attention and profit? Many would argue that Greenwald and his team’s reports are mainly for their crave towards fame and fortune. Greenwald has been awarded numerous times for his success in promoting independent journalism with most of his works becoming New York Times best seller and he has been around many universities giving speeches to students studying in law and journalism. If he wanted fame, he would never do this type of article as it involves with too many risks, he would have just stayed in America to continue writing books and publishing articles of other types in his house rather than living in a remote area in Brazil. The motive of becoming popular and wealthy are aspects that cannot be used to accuse Greenwald for this article. Taking risks is very important as we progress in life’s journey, we all have to improve and become better than ourselves. The main step to become better than yesterday is through the process of taking risks. Albert Einstein once said “A ship is always safe at the shore - but that is NOT what it is built for .” This is one of the quotes in where I have on my wall and it motivates me to take risks and try to become a better person than I was yesterday. I believe that Greenwald is a brave writer as he does a thorough interview with Snowden and explains in his articles on how “Prism” works and what the Federal government is doing in the surveillance program. In today’s world, being a reporter is very stressful and they often worry about researching topics that

may not be true. Especially Greenwald is American, I believe that he his a courageous person as he reported something that would affect their own country. With the potential of facing death, sacrificing his American identity and to losing his career as a journalist shows that Greenwald is a clear example of a risk taking figure. Bibliography Greenwald, Glenn. "Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations." The Guardian. The Guardian, 9 June 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Reisinger, Don. "Edward Snowden and the Rubik's Cube." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2013. h t t p : / / w w w. n y t i m e s . c o m / 2 0 1 3 / 0 8 / 1 8 / m a g a z i n e / l a u r a - p o i t r a s - s n o w d e n . h t m l ? pagewanted=1&_r=5& http://gawker.com/edward-snowden-just-got-a-new-passport-but-good-luck-u-746883136 http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/69315-a-ship-is-always-safe-at-the-shore---but

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