May 29 - NBC's Brian Williams' Pathetic Interview with Edward Snowden; Who Decides What Secrets to Print?; Anti-World Cup Demonstrations Intensify in Brazil

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the exclusive interview that NBC’s news anchor Brian Williams had with Edward Snowden and get an analysis of both what was said by the NSA whistleblower and what was not asked by Brian Williams. Sean Wilentz, Professor of History at Princeton University, who wrote an article at The New Republic “Would You Feel Differently About Snowden, Greenwald and Assange If You Knew What They Really Thought?”, joins us. We discuss the holes in Snowden’s story and the tepid questions by Brian Williams that reflect how the mainstream press, who have been beneficiaries of the leaks, have bought into the Snowden narrative without questioning the source and who might be behind the source.

Part 2

Then we speak with Amatai Etzioni, University Professor and Director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University.  We discuss his article at The Huffington Post “Freedom of the Press in the Post-Snowden World” and who should have authority to render the final decision on what to publish when a nation’s secrets, like Snowden’s cache, are delivered to selected journalists and a select few newspapers and editors who alone have the responsibility to weigh the people’s right to know against the government’s need to keep secrets.

Part 3

Then finally we go to Brazil’s capitol, Brazilia and speak with Paulo Sotero, the director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the former Washington Correspondent for Estado de Sao Paulo, a leading Brazilian newspaper. We look into the anti-World Cup demonstrations ahead of the June 12 opening game and the record-breaking $11.5 billion price tag that is dampening the expected celebration of national pride that could hurt or harm President Dilma Rousseff ahead of the October elections that are clearly politicizing the increasingly charged atmosphere surrounding the World Cup.