George Brock discusses WikiLeaks and whether it represents the future of journalism. He outlines the three phases of WikiLeaks: starting as hackers, becoming a stateless platform, and releasing major document dumps in 2010. Critics question if WikiLeaks passes traditional tests of journalism like verification and sense-making. However, supporters argue it has changed how governments handle information and the balance of power between citizens and states. Ultimately, the debate around WikiLeaks and its role in society depends on views of transparency, privacy, and an open democratic system.
Lecture slides dealing with the role of sources and whistleblowers in the 21st century information war - part of the University of Sunderland media ethics module
Innovations in Digital Journalism: 5 Lessons LearnedJeremy Caplan
As the world of journalism changes, there are five lessons to be learned from recent successes in digital journalism. The talk that accompanies these slides focuses on these five lessons: prioritize design, experiment, explore new revenue, curate and aggregate and sharpen skills.
Lecture slides dealing with the role of sources and whistleblowers in the 21st century information war - part of the University of Sunderland media ethics module
Innovations in Digital Journalism: 5 Lessons LearnedJeremy Caplan
As the world of journalism changes, there are five lessons to be learned from recent successes in digital journalism. The talk that accompanies these slides focuses on these five lessons: prioritize design, experiment, explore new revenue, curate and aggregate and sharpen skills.
Over a period of two years, from June 2009 to June 2011, I have succeeded in the difficult and dangerous task of reverse engineering and exposing the deepest secrets of an industry of oppression whose intentions and methods are fully autocratic and who maintain only a façade of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Despite standing nearly alone against a global alliance of political and economic forces bent on robbing the world of freedom, justice and democracy, I have achieved considerable success. My efforts and accomplishments will in time be recognized as a turning point.
111What Is the Elephant in the Digital RoomAny hi.docxmoggdede
11
1
What Is the Elephant in the Digital Room?
Any history of the past three decades will give prominent, if not preeminent,
attention to the emergence of the Internet and the broader digital revolu-
tion. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, signs point to its being
a globally defining feature of human civilization going forward, until it even-
tually becomes so natural, so much a part of the social central nervous sys-
tem, as to defy recognition as something new or distinct to our being, like
speech itself.
To some extent, the revolution can be chronicled in the sheer amount
of information being generated and shared. In 1989, which seems like a
century ago, Richard Saul Wurman wrote of “information anxiety” created
by overload because there were a thousand books published every day world-
wide and nearly ten thousand periodicals then being published in the united
States.1 Google’s Eric Schmidt estimates that if one digitally recorded all
extant human cultural artifacts and information created from the dawn of
time until 2003, one would need 5 billion gigabytes of storage space. by
2010 people created that much data every two days.2 by 2012 the amount of
video being uploaded to youTube had doubled since 2010, to the equivalent
of 180,000 feature-length movies per week.3 Put another way, in less than
a week, youTube generates more content than all the films and television
programs hollywood has produced in its entire history.
Another way to grasp the digital revolution is by the amount of time
people immerse themselves in media. An extensive 2009 study found that
most Americans, regardless of their age, spend at least eight and a half hours
per day looking at a television, computer screen, or mobile phone screen,
frequently using two or three screens simultaneously.4 Another 2009 study,
by the Global Information Industry Center, determined that the average
2 digital disconnect
American consumes “information” for 11.4 hours per day, up from 7.4 hours
in 1980.5 A 2011 study of twenty thousand schoolchildren throughout Mas-
sachusetts determined that 20 percent of third graders had cell phones and
over 90 percent were going online. Forty percent of fifth graders and nearly
85 percent of middle schoolers had cell phones, generally smartphones with
Internet access.6 The Internet has long since stopped being optional.
In the united States, Europe, and much of the rest of the world, one need
not have a teenage child to understand that “social networks have become
ubiquitous, necessary, and addictive.” 7 To the students I teach, life without
mobile Internet access is unthinkable. When I describe my college years in
the early 1970s, they have trouble grasping how people managed to com-
municate, how anything could get done, how limited the options seemed to
be, how life could even be led. It would be akin to my great-grandparents
from 1860 Nova Scotia or eastern Kentucky returning to describe their ...
Funding Truth in the Media with its Fake NewsPaul H. Carr
What is truth?
"Truth is the confirmation of appearance to reality" Mathematician & Philosopher Alfred N. Whitehead
"Reality, when you stop believing it, does not go away."
Lucas Mix, Society of Ordained Scientists
Plato's allegory of the cave.
”The more perspectives we learn to see from, the more truth we have access to.” Nietzche, existential philosopher.
Never trust a single source.
Refereed academic papers have a higher level of truth.
Fake News Flies Faster
Whenever you repeat sensational, emotional FAKE NEWS, you become part of the problem.
"Living the truth: being our true selves" theologian Paul Tillich
Discover your lovable true self.
The danger of a single truth.
WikiLeaks - towards some research questionsPOLIS LSE
A short lecture that recaps some previous talks on WikiLeaks but adds some tentative research questions for a conference at UCLAN Preston UK on 20.6.12
Over the last decades, globalisation has led to a new class of global citizens. While the access to this global citizenship is still not spread evenly, many have enjoyed the freedom to move, work, and travel with no limits. However, this cosmopolitan globalisation rhetoric of a borderless world has been drastically slowed down by Covid-19. This pandemic has introduced a new level of uncertainty in global affairs and led many to question whether citizens will be able to continue enjoying the freedom of movement once the crisis is over. To share this article: https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/will-covid-19-be-the-end-of-the-global-citizen To cite this article: Calzada, I. (2020), Will Covid-19 be the end of the global citizen? Apolitical. Retrieved from: https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/will-covid-19-be-the-end-of-the-global-citizen DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11942.27208/1.
Chapter 12 of a university course in media history by Prof. Bill Kovarik, based on the book Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2nd ed., 2015).
Paper presented to Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) 2011 annual conference, Communication on the Edge: Shifting Boundaries and Identities, to be held at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, 6-8 July, 2011.
Over a period of two years, from June 2009 to June 2011, I have succeeded in the difficult and dangerous task of reverse engineering and exposing the deepest secrets of an industry of oppression whose intentions and methods are fully autocratic and who maintain only a façade of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Despite standing nearly alone against a global alliance of political and economic forces bent on robbing the world of freedom, justice and democracy, I have achieved considerable success. My efforts and accomplishments will in time be recognized as a turning point.
111What Is the Elephant in the Digital RoomAny hi.docxmoggdede
11
1
What Is the Elephant in the Digital Room?
Any history of the past three decades will give prominent, if not preeminent,
attention to the emergence of the Internet and the broader digital revolu-
tion. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, signs point to its being
a globally defining feature of human civilization going forward, until it even-
tually becomes so natural, so much a part of the social central nervous sys-
tem, as to defy recognition as something new or distinct to our being, like
speech itself.
To some extent, the revolution can be chronicled in the sheer amount
of information being generated and shared. In 1989, which seems like a
century ago, Richard Saul Wurman wrote of “information anxiety” created
by overload because there were a thousand books published every day world-
wide and nearly ten thousand periodicals then being published in the united
States.1 Google’s Eric Schmidt estimates that if one digitally recorded all
extant human cultural artifacts and information created from the dawn of
time until 2003, one would need 5 billion gigabytes of storage space. by
2010 people created that much data every two days.2 by 2012 the amount of
video being uploaded to youTube had doubled since 2010, to the equivalent
of 180,000 feature-length movies per week.3 Put another way, in less than
a week, youTube generates more content than all the films and television
programs hollywood has produced in its entire history.
Another way to grasp the digital revolution is by the amount of time
people immerse themselves in media. An extensive 2009 study found that
most Americans, regardless of their age, spend at least eight and a half hours
per day looking at a television, computer screen, or mobile phone screen,
frequently using two or three screens simultaneously.4 Another 2009 study,
by the Global Information Industry Center, determined that the average
2 digital disconnect
American consumes “information” for 11.4 hours per day, up from 7.4 hours
in 1980.5 A 2011 study of twenty thousand schoolchildren throughout Mas-
sachusetts determined that 20 percent of third graders had cell phones and
over 90 percent were going online. Forty percent of fifth graders and nearly
85 percent of middle schoolers had cell phones, generally smartphones with
Internet access.6 The Internet has long since stopped being optional.
In the united States, Europe, and much of the rest of the world, one need
not have a teenage child to understand that “social networks have become
ubiquitous, necessary, and addictive.” 7 To the students I teach, life without
mobile Internet access is unthinkable. When I describe my college years in
the early 1970s, they have trouble grasping how people managed to com-
municate, how anything could get done, how limited the options seemed to
be, how life could even be led. It would be akin to my great-grandparents
from 1860 Nova Scotia or eastern Kentucky returning to describe their ...
Funding Truth in the Media with its Fake NewsPaul H. Carr
What is truth?
"Truth is the confirmation of appearance to reality" Mathematician & Philosopher Alfred N. Whitehead
"Reality, when you stop believing it, does not go away."
Lucas Mix, Society of Ordained Scientists
Plato's allegory of the cave.
”The more perspectives we learn to see from, the more truth we have access to.” Nietzche, existential philosopher.
Never trust a single source.
Refereed academic papers have a higher level of truth.
Fake News Flies Faster
Whenever you repeat sensational, emotional FAKE NEWS, you become part of the problem.
"Living the truth: being our true selves" theologian Paul Tillich
Discover your lovable true self.
The danger of a single truth.
WikiLeaks - towards some research questionsPOLIS LSE
A short lecture that recaps some previous talks on WikiLeaks but adds some tentative research questions for a conference at UCLAN Preston UK on 20.6.12
Over the last decades, globalisation has led to a new class of global citizens. While the access to this global citizenship is still not spread evenly, many have enjoyed the freedom to move, work, and travel with no limits. However, this cosmopolitan globalisation rhetoric of a borderless world has been drastically slowed down by Covid-19. This pandemic has introduced a new level of uncertainty in global affairs and led many to question whether citizens will be able to continue enjoying the freedom of movement once the crisis is over. To share this article: https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/will-covid-19-be-the-end-of-the-global-citizen To cite this article: Calzada, I. (2020), Will Covid-19 be the end of the global citizen? Apolitical. Retrieved from: https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/will-covid-19-be-the-end-of-the-global-citizen DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11942.27208/1.
Chapter 12 of a university course in media history by Prof. Bill Kovarik, based on the book Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2nd ed., 2015).
Paper presented to Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) 2011 annual conference, Communication on the Edge: Shifting Boundaries and Identities, to be held at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, 6-8 July, 2011.
A presentation to the World Editor Forum in Berlin in October 2013 on one of themes of the author's book (Out of Print: Newspapers, Journalism and the Business of News in the Digital Age) looking at the difference between innovation and experiment
1. Is WikiLeaks the future of journalism? George Brock Professor and Head of Journalism City University London XIC, Mumbai, March 2011 City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 1
2. We can use ideas from Tuesday Recap: Verification Sense-making Eye-witness Investigation Can’t be done by algorithms May even require training City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 2
3.
4. Phase Two: stateless, uncrackable platform Kenya, Julius Baer, Guantanamo handbooks, Scientology, Kosovo City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 4
5. Phase Three, 2010: the big time “Collateral Murder” Afghan warlogs City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 5
6. …and more Iraq warlogs US diplomatic cables City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 6
7. And this week, in full, India… City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 7
8. The effects Julian Assange, superstar Original team splits New leaking platform starts ? Tunisia Middle East Wars continue Effects not predictable Arrest/trial of Bradley Manning City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 8
9.
10. What the mainstream media did Made sense of chaos Minimised harm Projected Adapted to the data dump City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 11
11. Are secrets right? Julian Assange’s original view: (Journalists’) “original sin” is to enjoy the imbalance of power. Why does someone want to read what a journalist has written? “They’re ignorant and you’re not. You know more.” Journalists treat readers as parents treat children. “You can’t lie, but the opportunity to distort is large and prevalent”. The reader can’t see the whole picture so WikiLeaks has to fill the gap. Once “primary source material” is up on the web, the “lying opportunities” shrink. City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 12
12. Privacy and transparency People need privacy and are entitled to it But how much? Governments need secrecy Likewise... How much should they be allowed? Does anyone own information? Democracy is a series of managed tensions City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 13
13. “National security”: US version The balance was asserted in the Pentagon papers case by the late Justice Potter Stewartof the US supreme court. He was su He was sure that the Pentagon papers` publication was not in the national interest, he said, but he could not find that it would “surely result in direct, immediate and irreparable harm to our Nation or its people”. Stewart’s tough test still governs the tense collaboration and competition between the American government and press City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 14
14. Is it journalism? Your view of its value will depend on you view of society In an open society this will not be fixed Events like WikiLeaks may change the balance of information power. “Assange has claimed, when the history of statecraft of the era is written, that it will be divided into pre-and post-WikiLeaks periods. This claim is grandiose and premature; it is not, however, obviously wrong.” A source and a platform City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 15
15. WikiLeaks: unexpected effects Nobody died Great PR for the State Department Opportunities for security firms Big bonus for historians No one expected an effect in the Middle East New technologies and their disclosures don’t bring “general and perpetual peace on earth”(the president of GEC’s hope for radio in 1921) City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 16
16. Further reading On Delicious Georgebrock51 (password: oliver85) Books: WikiLeaks: The Inside Story of Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy (Guardian Books) Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange(Daniel Domscheit-Berg) City University London www.city.ac.uk/journalism 17