New York Times Says Greenwald’s Report on the NSA Sharing Raw Data About American Citizens With Israel Is Unfit to Print

On September 11, Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian broke the story that the NSA has been sharing raw intelligence, including personal information about American citizens, with Israel.

The New York Times has said almost nothing about this. I say “almost” because there is one item that mentions it: a note from the public editor explaining to readers who have written in wondering about the newspaper’s silence why this news was not found fit to print:

After a weekend in which no mention was made in The Times of the article, I asked the managing editor, Dean Baquet, about it on Monday morning.

He told me that The Times had chosen not to follow the story because its level of significance did not demand it.

“I didn’t think it was a significant or surprising story,” he said. “I think the more energy we put into chasing the small ones, the less time we have to break our own. Not to mention cover the turmoil in Syria.”

…In a world with many news outlets, he said: “We can spend all our time matching stories, and not actually covering the news. This one was modest and didn’t feel worth taking someone off greater enterprise.”

So here are stories that appeared in the NYT on the 12th that the editors found more fit to print than the story of the NSA sharing raw data about American citizens with Israel. Following is just a small sampling of stories deemed to be of “greater enterprise” than the one Greenwald broke:

• Tina Brown to Write Memoir
• Warner and J.K. Rowling Reach Wide-Ranging Deal
• Latinos Among New Kennedy Center Honorees
• Sorority Exposes Its Rejection of Black Candidate
• F.B.I. Plans to Close Offices for 10 Days to Cut Costs
• Boardwalk Fire Erases Months of Rebuilding at Jersey Shore

Etc., etc. Just a few on the first page of results. I won’t waste my time listing more. Click here to see more headlines of “fit to print” stories that were more enterprising than Greenwald’s.