This what they mean by "providing context"

Every time I see one of these blockbuster hype stories, it reminds me of the avowed role of the media as they explain it. Liberals eat this stuff up, as if the government has nothing better to do than sit around listening to random telephone conversations. I think it's part of their general belief that they're more interesting than they are.

Sometimes I wonder if leakers aren't like arsonists. They just love to watch the fires and all the activity they generate. And the news media love to stoke the fires. To see what I mean check out the links on Memeorandum.com related to the report that "The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth." Of course, this material isn't in any form that would be conducive to spying on individuals. It's used to analyze patterns in terrorist communications. USA Today makes it sound like we have all these NSA gnomes in a bunker somewhere listening to peoples' phone calls.

Given the number of obviously partisan leaks, I'm beginning to wonder if requiring everybody in government employment to wear a wire might not be a bad idea.

Right Wing Nuthouse considers the hysteria this has generated.