Karin wahl jorgensen normalisation of surveillance ssn2016

The normalisa-on of surveillance in media coverage: Newspaper and blog discourses a9er Snowden

Karin Wahl-‐Jorgensen (@KarinWahlJ) Cardiff University

7th Biennial

Surveillance & Society Conference April 21-‐23, 2016

Our research •  Part of ESRC-‐funded project, “Digital CiGzenship and

Surveillance Society” (2014-‐2016) •  How have the BriGsh news media represented the

Snowden leaks and digital surveillance more broadly? •  What does this tell us about public debate on surveillance

–  Digital ciGzenship –  Regimes of jusGficaGon (e.g. Boltanski & Thevenot, 1999) –  Changing se[lement around rights and responsibiliGes of ciGzens and the state in the digital era

The normalisaGon of surveillance in media coverage Karin Wahl-‐Jorgensen (@KarinWahlJ)

Our research •  Ways of discussing surveillance as crystallising debates over digital

ciGzenship: –  “digital ciGzenship requires security of (and trust in)

infrastructure, an enabling policy framework, freedom to enact ciGzenship through expression and protest, knowledge of characterisGcs of the infrastructure and its affordances, and informed consent“

•  Method: Content analysis of five peak moments of coverage of Snowden leaks and surveillance in UK naGonal newspapers and blogs –  E.g. angles, opinions expressed, sources, words used to discuss

surveillance


The normalisaGon of surveillance

•  Normalisa-on of surveillance in newspapers vs. contesta-on in blogs.

•  NormalisaGon: How norms of conduct are established and enforced through discursive pracGces backed up by insGtuGonal sancGons (e.g. Foucault, 1977).

•  Processes of normalisaGon are by no means uniform or uncontested


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6/10/2013

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10/27/2014

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11/24/2014

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12/22/2014

1/5/2015

1/19/2015

2/2/2015

2/16/2015

3/2/2015

3/16/2015

3/30/2015

4/13/2015

Timeline of Media Coverage

NSA

Snowden

GCHQ

IniGal Snowden RevelaGons David Miranda Case Lee Rigby Report Embassy snooping Snooping on World Leaders Charlie Hebdo Alermath

J)

Case study by newspaper (n=538)

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Charlie Hebdo

Lee Rigby

David Miranda

Snooping on world leaders IniGal revelaGons

Case study by blog (n=249)

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60 Charlie Hebdo

Lee Rigby

David Miranda

Snooping on world leaders

IniGal revelaGons


Most frequent opinions on surveillance

Opinion Blogs Newspapers

Surveillance should be reduced/is unacceptable/illegal

19.6%* (156)

7.5% (91)

Surveillance should be increased/is acceptable/necessary

7.9% (63)

9.0% (109)

Intelligence Services should be more transparent/ accountable

10.6% (84)

4.4% (53)


Most frequent opinion in newspapers Surveillance should be increased •  “That the NSA and GCHQ should share such informaGon

ought to be a cause of comfort rather than concern. They don’t gather informaGon for the sake of it – they do it to keep us safer.” (The Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2013)

•  “[B]ut I feel comforted, not threatened, by the thought that shadowy people are siling through data to thwart any potenGal security threats.” (The Sun, 12 June 2013)

•  “If it's a simple case of the emails and phone calls of ordinary, law-‐abiding people with nothing to fear being monitored as part of a wider effort to catch terrorist sleeper cell acGviGes before anyone gets hurt, then so what?” (The Sun, 12 June 2013)


Most frequent opinion in blogs •  Surveillance should be reduced: •  “The past few days haven't been good for civil liberGes.

Thanks to leaks from Edward Snowden, a former US intelligence employee turned whistleblower, a light has been shone on a nefarious wing of the US military, known as the NSA. In conjuncGon with its BriGsh counterpart, GCHQ, the NSA has been directly accessing the personal data of civilians stored in the servers of Google, Facebook, Apple, Skype and other internet companies. As in, all the big, important internet behemoths that will have detailed records of insignificant stuff like, say, your address, bank details and extended records of every single one of your personal interests” (Vice, 10/06/13)


Targets of Surveillance

Targets Blogs Newspapers Public 43.5%*

(107) 22.5% (115)

Terrorists 20.7% (51)

23.5% (120)

Foreign PoliGcians/World Leaders

11.8% (29)

24.7% (126)


Sources of newspaper stories

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Law/judiciary

US spy agency

UK spy agency

Journalist/media

Business person/tech company

CiGzen

Civil society group

Police

Expert

Edward Snowden himself

Edward Snowden documents

Other

Poll

PoliGcian

Civil service/diplomat

NGO

David Miranda

Think Tank

Snowden's girlfriend


Conclusions: The legiGmaGon of surveillance in newspapers

•  Newspapers: Debates around surveillance framed by elites rather than ciGzens.

•  Elite-‐centred structures of news coverage: Means consequences and extent of mass surveillance of ciGzens are largely invisible


Conclusions: The contestaGon of surveillance in blogs

• Blogs enabled the contesta5on of mass surveillance. • ProblemaGzing the transgression of individual rights • Entering broader debates relevant to digital ciGzenship. • Blogosphere has the potenGal to make visible key problems of surveillance for ciGzens.

• But remain less influenGal than mainstream media.


Conclusions •  Isin and Ruppert (2015): A[enGon to digital ciGzenship involves “invesGgaGng how people use language to describe themselves and their relaGons to others and how language summons them into speaking beings” (p. 23).

•  Research should pay a[enGon to –  How poliGcal subjects are systemaGcally silenced –  Emerging spaces where the silence may be broken.


Education

Karin wahl jorgensen normalisation of surveillance ssn2016