1. The document discusses principles of protecting confidential sources for journalists, including that sources must never be identified while alive. 2. Courts are very reluctant to require disclosure of sources, only doing so in exceptional cases where public or individual interests are at stake. 3. Views of whistleblowers have shifted over time in some media, from mostly positive coverage to some recent backlash against them in some outlets.

1. 1
Sources in the networked environment:
protecting & framing
#med312

2. 2

3. 3

4. 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
4

5. 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 alive
Luckhurst, The Independent, 2003
5

6. Dr David Kelly
May 2003
BBC: Andrew Gilligan
Today programme
‘sexed up’
‘dodgy dossier’
45 mins
Hutton Inquiry 6

7. Not an absolute right
7

8. 8

9. 9
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.

10. 10
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

11. 11
Goodwin v. United Kingdom 1996
Trainee journalist fined £5000
ECHR Article 10 overruled

12. 12
In context of national security the courts will almost rule automatically to reveal the
source

13. 13Again, almost automatic disclosure favoured by courts

14. 14
This does not apply to certain material such
as:
1. Legal privilege
2. Excluded material
3. Special procedure material

15. 15
Clause 14: Journalists have a moral obligation to protect
confidential sources of information.

16. 16

17. Who can evoke the right?
• Not just journalists
• Middleman (NGO activist, academic)
17

18. Deliberately avoiding ‘journalist’
18
“Every social communicator has the right to keep his/her source
of information, notes, personal and professional archives
confidential”

19. Deliberately avoiding ‘journalist’
19
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.”

20. 20

21. 21

22. April 2010
Afghan War Logs
90,000 classified documents
22

23. 23

24. April 2010 - Collateral Murder
24

25. 25
May 2010: Adrian Lamo
June 2010: Manning arrested

26. Credibility?
26

27. 27

28. 23 October 2010
Iraq War Logs
391,832 classified documents
28

29. 29 November 2010
Cablegate
251,287 classified documents
29

30. 30

31. 31

32. 32

33. 33

34. 34

35. 35

36. 36

37. 37

38. 38

39. 39
August 2013: David Miranda detained at Heathrow under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000

40. 40

41. 41

42. 42
Media responses
Social network analysis of media coverage
Compared legacy news coverage with social
media reaction

43. 43
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

44. 44
Media responses

45. 45
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

46. 46
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

47. 47
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

48. 48
Compared coverage across a range of
publications
- Quality (Guardian)
- Mid-market (Daily Mail)
- Tabloid (The Sun)

49. 49
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

50. 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.
50

51. 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 51