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Brian Williams lands interview with Edward Snowden

 

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“NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams has scored the first American television interview with Edward Snowden, the network announced Thursday.

In a major get, Williams traveled to Moscow, where the former National Security Agency contractor is now living in exile, for an exclusive sitdown earlier this week. The interview will air on May 28 in an hourlong prime time special at 10 p.m. Pacific/Eastern.

The interview will be Snowden’s first for American television since he leaked classified documents about the NSA’s widespread domestic surveillance program last year, sparking intense debate about personal privacy and government intrusion. Snowden’s media profile has been on the rise in recent months, with speaking engagements (via teleconference) at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, a TED Conference in March and an interview in Vanity Fair’s May issue.

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According to NBC, the conversation took place over several hours. Also sitting for an interview in the special will be Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who originally broke the NSA surveillance story for the Guardian (and helped the British newspaper win a “public service” Pulitzer with the Washington Post) and is now employed by First Look Media, which has a collaboration agreement with NBC.

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