Jaipur, 11 August 2018 — It was a surprise for the ballroom gathering at the first post-lunch session on day two of Talk Journalism 2018. For the event “Being A Whistle Blower”, the audience was left to guessing that who will be the speaker on this topic. And when the speaker was unveiled, the audience were left shocked and stunned.
As the speaker was Edward Snowden, the famous whistleblower, who leaked classified information of US Intelligence Services in June 2013 and is now at an undisclosed location in Moscow. Addressing the audience via live video conferencing, Snowden said that the younger generation needs to understand more about privacy. Snowden went on to speak about the Aadhar Card and its issues by saying that “In India, if the Aadhar system has to work then there should be criminal penalty on agencies for disclosing personal details. In India, the condition is like you can’t have a baby if you don’t have Aadhar. There is something seriously wrong with this system.” Snowden also pointed out the need to do two things which he described as “one is to protect technology and second to make sure that the rights are enforced in such a way that there are criminal penalties if any of the information is disclosed”.
Snowden was vocal about the need about journalists in a free society by adding that journalists are needed to work for finding the truth and journalists need to protect each other. It is only then they can fight for the truth. He also expressed his cautions on the fact that the world is slowly and slowly moving towards the Chinese model and that is a dangerous model.
When asked at the end if he misses his home in United States of America, Snowden quipped that he misses his home. But he can’t go back until the trial against him is fair.
Text: Niharika Raina | Copy Edit: Niharika Raina | Photography: Niharika Raina | Photo Desk: Anu Soni | Editorial Desk: Jyoti Mamnani
The report was filed during live newsroom workshop conducted by Institute of Integrated Digital journalism and Mass Communication(IIDJM)