Med312 spies and whistleblowers lecture

1Secrets, spies and whistleblowers: the ethics of radical transparency

@rob_jewitt#med312

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“The state has its eye on every citizen, but every citizen, at least every hacker – the citizens’ self appointed avenger – can pry into the state’s

every secret”--Umberto Eco, 2010

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Jana WinterFox NewsAurora, ColoradoJames Holmes’ notebook

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It’s the fixed point on the ethical firmament to which all other journalism principles are anchored, and reflects the highest aspiration of reporting –

to inform the public whatever the personal cost to the journalist

Hill and Lashmar, 2014: 132

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British soigneur Emma O’ReillyResigned in 2000

Whistleblew in 2004

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Dr David KellyMay 2003BBC: Andrew GilliganToday programme‘sexed up’‘dodgy dossier’45 minsHutton Inquiry

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The legend of Deep Throat runs deep and, to British journalists, it conveys a solitary absolute: confidential sources must never be

identified while they are aliveLuckhurst, The Independent, 2003

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Dr David KellyMay 2003BBC: Andrew GilliganToday programme‘sexed up’‘dodgy dossier’45 minsHutton Inquiry

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14By 1988 the book was cleared for sale when the Law Lords accepted that overseas revelations rendered its secrets as public knowledge

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By gagging its own papers the British Government was found guilty by the European Court of Human Rights of breaching the European Convention of Human Rights (Nov 1991)

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“They are only online entities. They don’t become sources until you have met them”

Paul Lewis cited in Hill and Lashmar, 2014: 132

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Gomez-Mejia et al (2007) define whistleblowing as an occurrence in which a former or current employee discloses illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices under the control of the employer to persons or organisations that may be able to take corrective actions.

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Protecting your source

• Try to avoid electronic communication• Meet face to face• Turn off both your phones, tablets, etc, well in advance of meeting• Avoid meeting in locations with CCTV• If you do use phone or email, do not use names• If you do use mobile phones, only use PAYG mobiles for both sides of

the conversation • If you use email, create an anonymous generic account (eg Hotmail)

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‘the right of people to freely access information … helps citizens hold their own governments accountable’

‘a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas’ – Clinton , 2010

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April 2010 - Collateral Murder

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April 2010 Afghan War Logs90,000 classified documents

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23 October 2010 Iraq War Logs391,832 classified documents

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29 November 2010 Cablegate251,287 classified documents

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• John Gilmore• “The Net interprets

censorship as damage and routes around it”– TIME magazine (6 Dec 1993)

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Wikileaks: ‘the World’s First Stateless News Organization’- Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University

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‘the possibilities allowed [...] for dissent, openness and diversity rather than closure, exclusivity and ideological homogeneity’Brian McNair, 2006: vii

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Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?-- Assange, 2010

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Radical transparency?

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Credibility?

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The Internet and democracy: from openness to closedness• mass participation (see Anderson, 2009)• end of traditional gatekeepers of information (see

Grossberg, 1995)

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‘reinvigoration of democratic processes have been progressively dashed as technological potentials have been commandeered by corporate and governmental initiatives designed to reinstitute top-down control’-- Brevini & Murdock, 2013: 36

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‘the Web’s arrival as an everyday utility has intersected with economic and political shifts that have shaped its deployment in fundamental ways. Three are particularly relevant to the present discussion: marketization; the consolidation of the security state; and the erosion of the United States’ position as the primary global superpower’-- Brevini and Murdock, 2013: 36-7

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2001: the top 10 websites accounted for 31% of US page views2010: that figure had climbed to 75% -- see Anderson and Wolff, 2010

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Canada: Google has 81% share of search marketAustralia: 88%UK: 90.5%New Zealand: 92%-- See Winseck, 2010; Freedman, 2012

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Top 7% of sites take 80% of all news traffic in USTop 10 news outlets = 25+% of market share-- Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2011

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This context of persistent volatility in the international arena, continuing emphasis on the need to defeat “terrorism” at home and abroad, escalating civilian surveillance, entrenched official secrecy, combined with widespread corporate disregard for the public interest, has arguably made disclosure of governmental and business malpractice more imperative than ever.-- Brevini & Murdock, 2013: 38

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Summary

• Whistleblowing has long history: contexts have changed

• Internet as a platform to bypass journalists needs to be reconsidered

• Whistleblowers as the story rather than their revelations?

• Hiding in full view?• Smear campaigns?

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Sources• Anderson, C. and Wolff, M. (2009). The Future of a Radical Price. New York: Hyperion• Anderson, C. and Wolff, M. (2010 August 17). The Web Is Dead; Long Live the Internet: Who’s to Blame: Them Wired Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/

magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/• Julian Assange (2010a) ‘Why the World Needs Wikileaks’, TED, July, http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_assange_why_the_world_needs_wikileaks.html • Julian Assange (2010b) ‘Don't Shoot the Messenger for Revealing Uncomfortable Truths’, The Australian,

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332 • Umberto Eco (2010) ‘Not such wicked leaks’, Presseurop, 2 December, http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/414871-not-such-wicked-leaks • Benedetta Brevini & Graham Murdock (2013) ‘Following the Money: WikiLeaks and the Political Economy of Disclosure’ in Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the

Future of Communications, Journalism and Society, Palgrave Macmillan• Hilary Clinton (2010) ‘Internet Freedom’, Foreign Policy, 21st January, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/01/21/internet_freedom?page=full • Richard V. Ericson, Patricia M. Baranek and Janet B.L. Chan (1989) Negotiating Control: A Study of News Sources, Milton Keynes: Open University Press • Mark Fishman (1980) Manufacturing the News, Austin: University of Texas Press • Freedman, D. (2012). “Web 2.0 and the death of the blockbuster economy” in Curran, J. Fenton, N. and Freedman, D. Misunderstanding The Internet, London:

Routledge• John Gilmore (1993) Time, 6th December, http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/outerspace/internet-article.html • Gomez-Mejia, L. et al (2007) ‘Developing an Effective Whistleblowing Policy’ in Managing Human Resources, 5th Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall• Andy Greenberg (2010) ‘An Interview With WikiLeaks' Julian Assange’, Forbes, 29th October,

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/ • Grossman, K. L. (1995). The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age. New York: Viking• Huxford and Moore (2011) ‘Teaching Journalism Students About Confidential Whistleblower Sources: An Analysis Of Introductory News Writing Textbooks’, Journal Of

College Teaching & Learning, Vol 8, No 10 http://cluteonline.com/journals/index.php/TLC/article/view/6107• Raffi Khatchadourian (2010) ‘No Secrets: Julian Assange’s mission for total transparency’, The New Yorker, 7th June,

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian?currentPage=all • Graham Meikle and Sherman Young (2012) Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan• Project for Excellence in Journalism (2011 May 9). Navigating News online, Journalism.org Retrieved from

http://www.journalism.org/2011/05/09/navigating-news-online/ • Jay Rosen (2010) ‘The Afghanistan War Logs Released by Wikileaks, the World’s First Stateless News Organization’, PressThink, 26 July,

http://pressthink.org/2010/07/the-afghanistan-war-logs-released-by-wikileaks-the-worlds-first-stateless-news-organization/ • Karin Wahl-Jorgensen & Joanne Hunt (2012) ‘Journalism, accountability and the possibilities for structural critique: A case study of coverage of whistleblowing’,

Journalism, vol. 13 no. 4, pp. 399-416 www.dx.doi.org/10.1177/1464884912439135 • Winseck, D. (2011). ‘Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, 1984–2010’, Mediamorphis, Retrieved from http://dwmw.wordplus/2011/09/03 media-an-in-

ternet-concentration-in canada-1984-%E2%80%93–2010/

• Jeroen Elfferich, 2006, Big Brother Congestion - IMG_3280• Gaelx, 2010, Anonymous en la operación Goya• Nick Leonard, 2002, Short Track• Seth Stoll, 2009, network• Steven Depolo, 2009, Green Whistle Blowing 8-16-09 1• Kevyn Jacobs, 2011, Free Bradley Manning sticker• Ani Od Chai, 2009, IMG_0845 P• Talk Radio News Service, 2010,

Sec. of State Hillary Clinton Discusses on Internet Freedom• On Being, 2010, Julian

Assange of WikiLeaks at Press Conference on Afghanistan War Diary Leaks

• JD Lasica, 2008, Jay Rosen• Ben Bryant, 2010, Julian Assange (1)• Koen Colpaert, 2011, NSA Teufelsberg (De)• Jacon Bøtter, 2004, Enjoy Capitalism • Anna Fox, 2009, Monopoly in the Park• David Maddison 2005 Big Brother WAS Watching!• A. Diez Herrero, 2007, creative commons -Franz Patzig-

53All attempts made to attribute sources but if I’m missed one, get in touch please