digital citizenship and surveillance society: media
TRANSCRIPT
Digital Citizenship and Surveillance Society: Studying media coverage
Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Lucy Bennett
Cardiff University
Media strand research questions
• How have the British news media represented the Snowden leaks and digital surveillance more broadly?
• How have journalists responded to the events following the Snowden leaks, in particular with regards to press freedom and the handling of security-related information?
• Methods: – Content and discourse analysis of media coverage
(newspaper, television and blogs)– Interviews with journalists
Research carried out so far…• Content analysis of four (out of a planned
five) peak moments of coverage of Snowden leaks and surveillance in UK national newspapers.
• Ways of constructing debates over surveillance: – E.g. angles, opinions expressed, sources, words
used to discuss surveillance
5/27
/201
36/
10/2
013
6/24
/201
37/
8/20
137/
22/2
013
8/5/
2013
8/19
/201
39/
2/20
139/
16/2
013
9/30
/201
310
/14/
2013
10/2
8/20
1311
/11/
2013
11/2
5/20
1312
/9/2
013
12/2
3/20
131/
6/20
141/
20/2
014
2/3/
2014
2/17
/201
43/
3/20
143/
17/2
014
3/31
/201
44/
14/2
014
4/28
/201
45/
12/2
014
5/26
/201
46/
9/20
146/
23/2
014
7/7/
2014
7/21
/201
48/
4/20
148/
18/2
014
9/1/
2014
9/15
/201
49/
29/2
014
10/1
3/20
1410
/27/
2014
11/1
0/20
1411
/24/
2014
12/8
/201
412
/22/
2014
1/5/
2015
1/19
/201
52/
2/20
152/
16/2
015
3/2/
2015
3/16
/201
53/
30/2
015
4/13
/201
5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Timeline of Media Coverage
NSASnowdenGCHQ
Initial Snowden Revelations David Miranda Case Lee Rigby Report Embassy snooping Snooping on World Leaders Charlie Hebdo Aftermath
Case Study Timeframe Number of ArticlesTotal (Relevant)
Edward Snowden 09/06/13 - 16/06/13 214
Snooping on Embassy and World Leaders
29/06/13 - 27/07/13 and 11/10/13 - 08/11/13
253 (135)
David Miranda Case 18/08/13 - 15/09/13 204 (125)
Lee Rigby Report 15/11/14 - 13/12/14 102 (78)
Charlie Hebdo Aftermath 07/01/15 - 04/02/15 278 (80)
National security
Human rights
Personal privacy
Content of Snowden leaks
Terrorism
Policing
Security Services
Personal online behaviour
Spying on corporations
Counter surveillance
Spying on governments
Application/changes to the law
Government oversight
Social media/game surveillance
Extradition/Asylum
Non-UK/US government reaction
Whistleblowing
UK/US government response
The Miranda case
Mass public surveillance
Freedom of the press
Other
International relations
Surveillance Failure
None
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Surveillance Angle
Law/judiciary
US spy agency
UK spy agency
Journalist/media
Business person/tech company
Citizen
Civil society group
Police
Expert
Edward Snowden himself
Edward Snowden documents
Other
Poll
Politician
Civil service/diplomat
NGO
David Miranda
Think Tank
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Sources
Terror laws are acceptable
Terror laws are excessive
Privacy must be surrendered for national security
Surveillance should be increased
Surveillance is acceptable if helping to fight terror
Surveillance should not be feared if nothing to hide
Mass surveillance is unacceptable
We are in a big brother/surveillance state
Intelligence Services should be more transparent
Intelligence Services should be more accountable
Intelligence Services should be better funded/have more resources to fight terror
Social media companies should do more to fight terror
Social media companies are acting sufficiently towards terror
The Snowden leaks are in the public interest
The Guardian is praised
Press freedom must be protected
Distinguishing online content and determining terrorism will be a problem
The UK Govt has passed the buck from the Intelligence Services onto social media companies
Nations have always spied on their friends and foes
The Intelligence Services are out of control
The Police were acting in the interests of national security/their actions should be expected
So many suspects, Intelligence Services cannot monitor all of them
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Expressions of Opinions by Sources
Examples: Top Three Opinions on surveillance
Social media companies should do more to fight terror: • David Cameron: “The Prime Minister called on the technology
companies to live up to their “social responsibility” and develop ways of blocking inflammatory material before it was posted”.
Surveillance is damaging to international relations:• President Hollande: “We cannot accept this kind of behaviour
between partners and allies” he said. “No negotiations of transactions can be held in all areas until we have these guarantees [that the eavesdropping will stop].
Surveillance should be increased:• Col Tim Collins (former SAS officer): “The reality is that Islamic
fundamentalists have seized the modern tools of communication to facilitate their murderous campaigns. Governments – whose first responsibility is to defend their citizens and subjects – must fight to identify and prevent these campaigns using every method available”.
Targets of SurveillanceTarget Percentage None listed 78.5% Foreign politicians/world leaders 6.0% Terrorists 5.3% Public 3.9% 'allies' 2.6% Friends 1.1% Other 1.0% Governments 0.4% Criminals 0.3% UK/US politicians 0.2% Partners 0.2% Journalists 0.2% 'enemies' 0.1% Businesses 0.1%
Conclusions so far…• Debates around surveillance framed by elites rather than citizens. • The consequences and extent of mass surveillance of citizens:
Largely invisible in media coverage• Lack of discussion of:
– Citizen rights surrounding surveillance (including human rights, privacy)– Mass surveillance– Regulation of surveillance