The perfect leak

But the traditional national security media heavyweights — led by The New York Times and The Washington Post — still have outsize influence on stories about intelligence gathering and potential overreach by the government.

So at the end of the day, experts told POLITICO, Snowden found a way to pull off what was in effect the perfect leak. He established parallel tracks with the MSM — The Washington Post and The Guardian — and also found a member of the media who was sympathetic to his cause. Snowden’s material was given widespread exposure and credibility in the traditional press and at the same time had the hand of a friendly journalist on the wheel for at least part of the ride.

“I think anyone who will leak something like this obviously knows that he or she is in a very vulnerable position and there could be criminal charges, so what you want to do is at least make sure there are parts of the equation you have some control over and you want to make sure that your story is going to be published,” said Paul Levinson, a professor of media and communications studies at Fordham University.

“That’s the motivation with going to someone like Glenn Greenwald for a story like this because you know that it’s going to be well-received, based on what he’s written in the past,” Levinson added. “And what’s the point of leaking the information if you’re concerned that it’s going to be chopped up and paraphrased and somehow the essence of the story might not get out there to the public? You want to go with who you have the best shot of getting the story that you want out to the public.”