OK, so last night, I was sitting down with a cool one, and watching the NBC Nightly News, and Lester Holt was chatting over the events of the day, specifically the president's decision not to meet with Vladimir Putin. And, when the name of Edward Snowden came up, this is how Holt described him:

"...alleged American spy, Edward Snowden."

Wait.

Whoa.

Alleged American spy?

Where did that come from?

The basic argument is whether or not Snowden is a leaker or a whistleblower, or some combination of the two. That's the way it's been framed ever since Snowden first produced his revelations.

Alleged American spy?

That's an order of magnitude beyond anything that has been said about Snowden even by the administration. A spy is working for someone. A spy has to be spying for someone. Unless you're counting the American public, Snowden's revelations didn't indicate that he was spying for anyone. If that's the shorthand through which the American mega-media is going to describe him, then the story has changed, and it has gone to a very dark place indeed. NBC should be rather nervous about what it did last night.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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