Clearly, there's an officially sanctioned, if not supported, backlash underway to cast doubt on those who are disseminating the information that Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers are exposing to the global public.
What better way to respond to the evidence of government overreach and criminality in spying by the NSA and other agencies than to try to change the subject by smearing the people who are funding the reporting on it to us.
This latest round of the media battle should not be surprising. In fact, it's all too predictable.
In the latest round, lawyer and journalist Glenn Greenwald, the point person/interpreter for the majority of the Snowden disclosures, came under attack by indirection with a high profile smear on Pierre Omidyar, the E-bay billionaire funding his new venture, First Look Media.
Leading the charge publicly is one Patrick Ames, who writes for Pando News, a rival news agency funded by another Silicon Valley tech moneyman. He has gone after Greenwald before charging that he is profiting by selling state secrets.
Comment: When it comes to "full-spectrum information warfare", to quote the Project for a New American Century-inspired Bush-era Pentagon policy document, you cannot be 'paranoid' or 'delusional' enough - without actually feeling or becoming either paranoid or delusional, of course!
What we mean is that critical thinking requires just that: thinking critically about all the factors involved. If Greenwald is getting Big Bucks from a large corporation whose fundamental concern is Profit, then it IS interesting data that must be taken into consideration.