VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND DIPLOMACY PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT Maja Mišović CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS AND PRACTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WHISTLEBLOWING: CASE STUDY OF WIKILEAKS Final Master Thesis Journalism and Media Industries Study Program, state code 621P50002 Degree in Journalism Supervisor Prof. Dr. Auksė Balčytienė _________ __________ (acad. title, name, surname) (Signature) (Date) Defended __________________ __________ __________ (Dean of the Faculty) (Signature) (Date) Kaunas, 2017 VYTAUTO DIDŽIOJO UNIVERSITETAS POLITIKOS MOKSLŲ IR DIPLOMATIJOS FAKULTETAS VIEŠOSIOS KOMUNIKACIJOS KATEDRA Maja Mišović KONCEPCINIAI PRANEŠIMŲ (WHISTLEBLOWING) ASPEKTAI IR PRAKTINĖS CHARAKTERISTIKOS: „WIKILEAKS“ ATVEJIS Magistro baigiamasis darbas Žurnalistikos ir medijų industrijų studijų programa, valstybinis kodas 621P50002 Žurnalistikos studijų kryptis Vadovas (-ė) Prof. Dr. Auksė Balčytienė _________ __________ (Moksl. laipsnis, vardas, pavardė) (Parašas) (Data) Apginta ___________________ __________ __________ (Fakulteto/studijų instituto dekanas/direktorius) (Parašas) (Data) Kaunas, 2017 1 Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 2. Whistleblowing Through Academic Filters ............................................................................... 10 2.1. What does it mean to blow a whistle? ................................................................................. 10 2.2. Wikileaks’ X-ray ................................................................................................................ 11 2.3. Shades of whistleblowing ................................................................................................... 12 2.4. (Non-)journalistic sides of whistleblowing ......................................................................... 13 2.5. Forces which drive whistleblowing .................................................................................... 16 2.6. Impact of whistleblowing on traditional journalism ............................................................ 19 2.7. Has Wikileaks managed to change the world? .................................................................... 21 2.8. What goes around, comes around ....................................................................................... 22 2.9. Has Wikileaks any guardians? ............................................................................................ 24 3.Wikileaks Below Magnifier ....................................................................................................... 27 3.1. “It was a journey from the local to the global and back again“ ............................................ 27 3.2. „My ordinary life would never be the same again“ ............................................................. 29 3.3. „We don’t splash stories, we convey information“ .............................................................. 29 3.4. Wikileaks in journalism and around it ................................................................................ 31 3.5. „The data is essentially unreachable, unless the person to whom the data refers wishes to make an effort to reveal it“ ........................................................................................................ 32 3.6. „My first word was ‘Why?’ It was also my favourite“ ........................................................ 33 3.7. „From having fun to ending up wanting to change the world“ ............................................ 35 3.8. „I was under the greatest pressure of my life. I was being surveilled“ ................................. 36 3.9. „The Internet is the biggest surveillance tool in the world“ ................................................. 38 3.10. Potentials of Wikileaks and its influences on transparency................................................ 39 4. New Perceptions On The Issue Of Wikileaks ............................................................................ 42 4.1.Whistleblowing viruses ....................................................................................................... 44 4.2.Shooting the messenger ....................................................................................................... 45 4.3. Journalistic-feature enigma ................................................................................................. 46 4.4. Wikileaks resource of consumption .................................................................................... 47 4.5. Fight for the right ............................................................................................................... 48 5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 50 Literature ...................................................................................................................................... 52 Academic articles ...................................................................................................................... 52 Laws ......................................................................................................................................... 53 Academic Journals .................................................................................................................... 53 Online articles and other sources ............................................................................................... 54 Newspapers ............................................................................................................................... 55 Television ................................................................................................................................. 55 2 Conceptual aspects and practical characteristics of whistleblowing: Case study of Wikileaks Summary Nowadays a global statement, that the humanity have not lived in more democratic period with the lowest rate of censorship than ever before, is spread world wide. That ubiquitous point of view is supported by the Internet and online media where the audience could be informed about everything, almost everywhere and immediately. However, thanks to whistleblowing and vast information disclosures, it is obvious that there are huge datasets that governments keep away from the public. The problem emerges to be even bigger because those materials are the part of the public interest. So, to comprehend this issue and to explain it, this paper is going to be analysis of the clash among journalistic disclosures and ethical dilemmas. The reason is that all materials are revealed thanks to hacking govermental sources or by anonymous or some illegal ways of information leaking. On the other hand, it is the right of society to be informed about war, corruption, surveillance and other hidden issues. Furthermore, this thesis is going to be devoted to the reactions of the United States of America and the United Kingdom goverments and how do they act in terms of cutting down the leaks or how to stop it completely. The whole procedure of analysing is going to be spread through the example of one of the biggest and the most important whistleblowing organizations, which is named Wikileaks. During the development and uncovering of the study case, there are going to be answered even question how does it affect the journalistic profession and which are options that could afford the clearer image of the reality to the society. Regarding goals of this master's thesis it is recapitulated what is whistleblowing and why it is beneficial for the public interest and how it supports human and media rights. Further, it is realized how whistleblowing affects journalism and which are ways to draw attention of journalists to do their job more professionally and independently. Finally, it led till solutions how to fight against govermental opressions and surveillance through the example of Wikileaks. Keywords: whistleblowing, leaking, Wikileaks, disclosure, ethics, surveillance, Assange 3 Koncepciniai pranešimų (whistleblowing) aspektai ir praktinės charakteristikos: „Wikileaks“ atvejis Santrauka Šiandien plačiai paplitęs teiginys, kad žmonija dar niekada negyveno labiau demokratiškais laikais, kai cenzūra juntama mažiausiai. Šį dažnai daug kur matomą požiūrį pagrindžia internetas ir internetinė žiniasklaida, kur auditorija akimirksniu gali būti informuota apie bet ką ir bet kur. Vis dėlto, dėka pranešėjų (angl. whistleblowers) ir didelių informacijos atskleidimo atvejų, akivaizdu, kad yra didelis kiekis informacijos, kurią skirtinga valdžia slepia nuo visuomenės. Šią problemą dar didesne daro tai, kad slepiama informacija yra viešų interesų dalis. Tam, kad būtų galima suvokti esamą problemą ir ją paaiškinti, šiame darbe bus analizuojama priešprieša tarp žurnalistinio informacijos atskleidimo ir ir etinių dilemų. Didžioji dalis slaptos informacijos dažniausiai atskleidžiama anonimiškai ir nelegaliai, prieš valdžios valią. Kita vertus, visuomenė turi teisę būti informuota apie galimus karo, korupcijos, sekimo ir ir kitus jai aktualius atvejus. Šiame darbe tirta JAV ir Jungtinės Karalystės valdžios reakcija į slaptos informacijos nutekinimo atvejus ir atsakomieji veiksmai, kurių imamasi norint užkirsti tam kelią. Pagrindinė tyrimo analizė paremta „WikiLeaks“, kuri yra viena didžiausių pranešimus skleidžiančių organizacijų pasaulyje, pavyzdžiais. Atliekant