Med312 Journalistic sources in the networked era: protecting and framing
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1 Sources in the networked environment: protecting & framing #med312
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Transcript of Med312 Journalistic sources in the networked era: protecting and framing
1Sources in the networked environment:
protecting & framing
#med312
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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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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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Not an absolute right
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No court may require a person to disclose, nor is any person guilty of contempt of court for refusing to disclose, the source of information contained in a publication for which he is responsible, unless it be established to the satisfaction of the court that disclosure is necessary in the interests of justice or national security or for the prevention of disorder or crime.
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Courts very reluctant to establish disclosure in the interest of justice
Only found in exceptional cases where vital public or individual interests are at stake
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Goodwin v. United Kingdom 1996
Trainee journalist fined £5000
ECHR Article 10 overruled
12In context of national security the courts will almost rule automatically to reveal the source
13Again, almost automatic disclosure favoured by courts
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This does not apply to certain material such as:1. Legal privilege2. Excluded material3. Special procedure material
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Clause 14: Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.
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Who can evoke the right?
• Not just journalists• Middleman (NGO activist, academic)
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Deliberately avoiding ‘journalist’
“Every social communicator has the right to keep his/her source of information, notes, personal and professional archives confidential”
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Deliberately avoiding ‘journalist’
The term ‘journalist’ means any natural or legal person who is regularly or professionally engaged in the collection and dissemination of information to the public via any means of mass communication.”
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April 2010 Afghan War Logs90,000 classified documents
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April 2010 - Collateral Murder
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May 2010: Adrian LamoJune 2010: Manning arrested
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Credibility?
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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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39August 2013: David Miranda detained at Heathrow under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000
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Media responses
Social network analysis of media coverageCompared legacy news coverage with social media reaction
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Media responses
Legacy news in the United Kingdom “mostly cover whistle-blowers in neutral or positive ways,” since “within the UK national newspaper cultures, blowing the whistle on corruption and malpractice is constructed as a brave act in the public interest”- Wahl-Jorgensen and Hunt, 2012: 399–407
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Media responses
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Category Guardian New York Times
People’s Daily South China Morning Post
Whistleblower 58 25 76 32
Hero 9 4 1 1
Victim 1 2 2 2
Villain 1 0 0 1
Neutral 1 1 2 6
Mole 0 0 0 0
Source: Di Salvo & Negra, 2015
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The term ‘whistleblower’ was only used by two of the newspapers studied – The Guardian (121 times) and The South China Morning Post (36 times). The other newspapers did not use this term. The New York Times preferring other expression such as ‘Former NSA contractor’ (7 times), followed by ‘NSA contractor’ (5 times), ‘former intelligence contractor’ (5 times) and ‘fugitive former intelligence contractor’ (4 times). --Di Salvo and Negra, 2015: 9
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Category Guardian New York Times People’s Daily South China Morning Post
Whistleblower 1 1 6 0
Hero 10 6 3 5
Victim 12 4 18 1
Villain 17 5 19 4
Neutral 0 0 0 0
Mole 0 0 0 0
Source: Di Salvo & Negra, 2015
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Compared coverage across a range of publications- Quality (Guardian)- Mid-market (Daily Mail)- Tabloid (The Sun)
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Newspaper corpus Number of words Number of articles
Daily Mail* 303,552 298
The Guardian* 294,891 341
Evening Standard 66,939 131
The Times 50,947 101
Daily Express 34,405 82
Daily Mirror 30,348 72
The Sun* 20,693 111
Daily Star 1349 9
Total 803,124 1145
Source: Branum & Charteris-Black: 2015
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Summary
• While whistle-blowers may have once held an unassailable position within the press there appears to be a backlash against them in recent years.
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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 a non-identifiable account and use PGP
encryption
