Ideology, Ethics, and the Law

Case Study: Wikileaks & The Pentagon PapersWeek 4 Lecture 2

Jen Paton

• Revisit the idea of ideology as it applies to media, understanding the concept of ideology in media studies.

• Identifying styles and method, comparing different texts and understanding differences in style, understanding representation of different genres in the media, critically analysing political ideologies which then lead to language preferences in the media

What is an ideology?

“political orientation: an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation”

(Princeton Word Web definition).

“A strategy for categorizing the world.”

In Media, ideology would refer to the set of ideas which underlie a media product.

Obvious examples in News (Fox, The Sun, etc).But ideology is everywhere.

Mullins’ Criteria for an Ideology

• 1. It must have power over cognition.• 2. It must be able to guide one’s evaluations.• (How should I think about X?)• 3. It must provide guidance toward action

(what should I do about X?)• 4. It must be logically coherent. – Marxism is coherent, in its self. So is Christianity.

So is Liberal Democracy.On the Concept of Ideology in Political Science Author(s): Willard A. Mullins Source: The American Political Science Review, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Jun., 1972), pp. 498-510

In Media, always ask: What does this text (or film or photo) assume I think about the subject?

19th Century BritainAnti-Irish Ideology

WWII, America:Anti-Nazi Ideology (but – with Christian undertones?)

2007, Uganda: Homophobia as ideology

1950s America

2009-2010, America: Motherhood as ideology?

• Ideology underpins all media content: the above examples included propaganda, political cartoons, advertising," news”, and entertainment news.

• What is the ideology in this Umbro ad?• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594c3Vd0

WuQ&feature=player_embedded

Counterargument - Audiences

• There is room for “oppositional reading.”

• Audiences can interpret a text anyway they like – does the media really reach into your brain and control it?

Wikileaks and Ideology

Things to Think About..

• What is Wikileaks’ own ideology?• What are some of the ways we can

understand different press ideologies based on how they cover Wikileaks the organization?

Background on Wikileaks

What is Wikileaks?• International non-profit organization.• Founder is unclear – some sources call

Julian Assange the “founder” but the Web site claims to have been founded by a group of people.

• Publishes “private, secret, and classified” media submitted to them anonymously.

• They have material from many countries but are probably most famous for three leaks related to U.S. documents.

• April 2010 – posted video in which Iraqi civilians and journalists are killed by US forces (from 2007).

• July 2010 – Published 92,000 documents, mainly from the US government, related to the Afghan War.

• November/December 2010 – “Cablegate” leaks published classified cables (this simply means correspondence) between the US State Department and its global diplomatic missions worldwide. (They released 220 cables initially and are releasing some on an ongoing basis every day).

How does Wikileaks describe itself?….supporting the truth…

http://mirror.wikileaks.info/wiki/Secret_US_Embassy_Cables_(Cablegate),_1966-2010/

…defending democracy…

How is Wikileaks talked about?

• Two strands:– Mistrust – what they are doing is damaging.– ALTERNATIVELY-– Support: Information wants to be free, and people

have the right to know.

Ethical Questions• Wikileaks has been accused of not doing enough to redact

names from documents where people might be put in danger if their identity where known.

• Reporters Without Borders, an NGO that promotes a global free press and is generally supportive of Wikileaks, criticized Wikileaks for “the incredible irresponsibility you showed when posting your article “Afghan War Diary 2004 - 2010” on the Wikileakswebsite on 25 July together with 92,000 leaked documents disclosing the names of Afghans who have provided information to the international military coalition that has been in Afghanistan since 2001.” (RSF, “An Open Letter to Wikileaks”, http://bit.ly/9lgLGE)

News Images of Assange – What Ideologies Do They Suggest?

Courtesy Laura Morris

Courtesy Laura Morris

The Law and Wikileaks

• In the United States, the leaking of (some types) of government documents is protected as free speech.

• However, that has not stopped branches of the US government from threatening to pursue legal action – though to date, no one has.– “ “

Furthermore, it is the view of the Department of Defence that WikiLeaks obtained this material in circumstances that constitute a violation of US law, and that as long as WikiLeaks holds this material, the violation of the law is ongoing.”

Pentagon Concludes Wikileaks broke law (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8ae43d12-acd1-11df-8582-00144feabdc0.html

• There is talk that the US may try to use the Espionage Act of 1911 to prosecute Wikileaks.

• But it is more likely they will try to pursue the actual leaker of the documents rather than Wikileaks, which is their publisher.– PFC Bradley Manning, aged 23, is accused of leaking all the major

U.S. related documents to Wikileaks.• Bill Keller, editor of the New York Times, has openly criticized

Assange, particularly over the issue of redacting names, nonetheless noted that it was “chilling to contemplate the possible government prosecution of WikiLeaks for making secrets public.” (http://nyti.ms/eMcejW)

Past Precedent?• Daniel Ellsberg, who was consulting for the Pentagon in 1971,

during the Vietnam War.• Released The Pentagon Papers, a top-secret study related to US’s

decision making regarding Vietnam.– The papers "demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson

Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance". (http://bit.ly/fkMWCW)

– The government had realized quite early that deaths would be high, and also the war could not be won.

– Ellsberg and Assange have given talks together and Ellsberg says ““EVERY attack now made on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was made against me and the release of the Pentagon Papers at the time.” (www.ellsberg.net).

• Ellsberg made photocopies of the documents and circulated them among a few journalists with a gentleman’s agreement not to publish.

• The New York Times went back on the promise, and published excerpts.

• The Nixon administration blocked publishing the documents for 15 days, but the Supreme Court ruled this was illegal under the First Amendment, which guarantees right to free speech.

• When Ellsberg turned himself in as the leaker, he said:– “I felt that as an American citizen, as a responsible

citizen, I could no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public. I did this clearly at my own jeopardy and I am prepared to answer to all the consequences of this decision.”

• We don’t know what will happen with Wikileaks…. But many think it is unlikely the government will pursue a legal case against it.