According to Guardian US Editor in Chief Janine Gibson, Snowden had an eerie prescience, and had tried to get as many NSA stories as possible published before the government, and his critics, tried to build a story about treason.
Ex Guardian-Unlimited Editor Emily Bell, now Director of the Tow Centre at the school, pointed out that, “Where oversight has failed, a whistleblower and journalism has succeeded … and yet the system is still wanting to punish, if you like, the one thing which has led to transparency and clarity.”
Read the full story at: http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/snowden_abramson_bell_columbia.php?page=all
A video of the event is available here: http://new.livestream.com/cujs/journalism-after-snowden