“Stories like the NSA Files are exceptional, and this is why they matter. They are stretches. They are creative bursts in a sea of sameness. They are proof of life. They offer hope for the future – and also a hint at what the next generation of digital news products could look like …” Andrew Nachison

Can mega-stories generate mega interest? Or are they really just “the editor’s prerogative”, as one critic claims? In the eighth installment of Trends in the Newsroom, Krysten Dawes reports on what makes a good mega-story, why they are relevant, and the potential that they hold. 

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In the post-Snowden era, newsrooms are increasingly aware of state-sponsored breaches of privacy and the threat they pose to journalists and their sources. Some newsrooms have introduced sophisticated anti-surveillance technology, and others have literally reverted to notepad, pen and clandestine meetings in the interests of shielding their sources and avoiding state, and corporate, electronic surveillance.

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The incoming Editor-in-Chief of Guardian.com, Janine Gibson, says that investigative journalism may need to be moved 'off shore' to avoid the threat to sources and reporters posed by state surveillance, in the post-Snowden era. “We will have to move to the place where it’s easier to report – where there are less restrictions”, Gibson told the World Newspaper Congress and the World Editors Forum in Torino, Italy, today.

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