When nation states spy on other nation states that’s called espionage. When nation states spy on the populace of an entire nation; that is a human rights violation!
So when the Snowden revelations were released the media in Germany, and many other European states were initially rather reserved when it was disclosed that almost any national in the European Union had fallen victim to mass surveillance.
That was “ok”, and to be tolerated by the public.
In June 2016 “Zeit” writer Kai Biermann wrote a lengthy article about how the German security services had failed to analyse Angela Merkel’s phone adequately to avoid interception of her communication, totally forgetting to mention that this is called espionage.
This is one of many articles misleading the public, because espionage is quite normal, and to be expected as a statesman.
The tone changed entirely when it was leaked that the general public was being spied upon, while this was the fact to be outraged about because this is a clear violation of Article 12 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Beside the UK, the press of pretty much any country in the EU tooted into the same horn, totally delivering the same message.
We are walking a fine line in these times. And it’s important that the media understands that their work is still largely accepted as fact by the general public. Misleading your clients/consumers/recipients will lead to a further demise in trust; and competition for traditional media is increasing significantly with self-publishing platforms are becoming increasingly easy to use.
