British NewspaperCoverage of State Surveillance and the Edward

Snowden Revelations

Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Lucy Bennett, Jonathan Cable, Arne Hintz, and Lina Dencik

Cardiff University

Future of Journalism Conference,Cardiff University,

September 10-11, 2015

Our research• Part of ESRC-funded project, “Digital Citizenship and Surveillance

Society” (2014-2016)• How have the British news media represented the Snowden

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

– Regimes of justification (e.g. Boltanski & Thevenot, 1999)– Changing settlement around rights and responsibilities of citizens and

the state in the digital era

Our research

• Method: Content analysis of five peak moments of coverage of Snowden leaks and surveillance in UK national newspapers.

• Ways of discussing debates over surveillance: – E.g. angles, opinions expressed, sources, words used

to discuss surveillance

5/27

/201

36/

10/2

013

6/24

/201

37/

8/20

137/

22/2

013

8/5/

2013

8/19

/201

39/

2/20

139/

16/2

013

9/30

/201

310

/14/

2013

10/2

8/20

1311

/11/

2013

11/2

5/20

1312

/9/2

013

12/2

3/20

131/

6/20

141/

20/2

014

2/3/

2014

2/17

/201

43/

3/20

143/

17/2

014

3/31

/201

44/

14/2

014

4/28

/201

45/

12/2

014

5/26

/201

46/

9/20

146/

23/2

014

7/7/

2014

7/21

/201

48/

4/20

148/

18/2

014

9/1/

2014

9/15

/201

49/

29/2

014

10/1

3/20

1410

/27/

2014

11/1

0/20

1411

/24/

2014

12/8

/201

412

/22/

2014

1/5/

2015

1/19

/201

52/

2/20

152/

16/2

015

3/2/

2015

3/16

/201

53/

30/2

015

4/13

/201

5

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Timeline of Media Coverage

NSASnowdenGCHQ

Initial Snowden Revelations David Miranda Case Lee Rigby Report Embassy snooping Snooping on World Leaders Charlie Hebdo Aftermath

Case Study Timeframe Number of ArticlesTotal

Edward Snowden 09/06/13 - 16/06/13 120

Snooping on Embassy and World Leaders

29/06/13 - 27/07/13 and 11/10/13 - 08/11/13

135

David Miranda Case 18/08/13 - 15/09/13 125

Lee Rigby Report 15/11/14 - 13/12/14 78

Charlie Hebdo Aftermath 07/01/15 - 04/02/15 80

TOTAL 538

Case Study Coverage by Newspaper

Initial revelations Snooping on world leaders

David Miranda Lee Rigby Charlie Hebdo

Case Study

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

The PeopleThe SunDaily Star/Star on Sundaythe IIndependent/Independent on SundayDaily Telegraph/Sunday TelegraphThe Times/Sunday TimesDaily Mirror/Sunday MirrorDaily Mail/Mail on SundayDaily Express/Sunday ExpressThe Guardian/Observer

Whistle-blower

Traitor

Leaker

Brave

Hero

Turn-coat

Fugitive

Spy

Rogue

Renegade

Supergrass

Hacker

Saboteur

Criminal

Geek

Mole

College drop out

Liar

Defector

Grey man

Spook

Patriot

Villain

Reclusive

Rebel

Enemy

0 50 100 150 200 250

Labels used to describe Edward Snowden

Surveillance Angle

National securityHuman rights

Personal privacyContent of Snowden leaks

TerrorismPolicing

Security ServicesPersonal online behaviour

Spying on corporationsCounter surveillance

Organised crimeSpying on governments

Application/changes to the lawGovernment oversight

Social media/game surveillanceExtradition/Asylum

Non-UK/US government reactionWhistleblowing

UK/US government responseThe Miranda case

Mass public surveillanceFreedom of the press

OtherInternational relations

Surveillance FailureState power

Snowden personal revelations

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Sources

Law/judiciary

US spy agency

UK spy agency

Journalist/media

Business person/tech company

Citizen

Civil society group

Police

Expert

Edward Snowden himself

Edward Snowden documents

Other

Poll

Politician

Civil service/diplomat

NGO

David Miranda

Think Tank

Snowden's girlfriend

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Expressions of Opinions by Sources

Privacy is a human right and should be protected

Surveillance should be increased/is acceptable/necessary

Surveillance is damaging to international relations

We are in/moving towards a big brother/surveillance state

Personal data should not be accessed by Intelligence Services

Intelligence Services should be trusted and need secrecy

Intelligence Services should act more on surveillance information

Social media/internet companies should do more to protect privacy

The Snowden leaks have compromised the work of the Intelligence Services

The Guardian is praised

Press freedom must be protected

Distinguishing online content and determining terrorism will be a problem

The UK Govt has passed the buck from the IS onto social media companies

Nations have always spied on their friends and foes

The Intelligence Services are out of control

The Police were acting in the interests of national security/their actions were acceptable

So many suspects, IS cannot monitor all of them

Police/Government acted unlawfully/unfairly towards Miranda

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Examples: Top Three Opinions on surveillance

Surveillance should be increased:• Col Tim Collins (former SAS officer): “The reality is that Islamic

fundamentalists have seized the modern tools of communication to facilitate their murderous campaigns. Governments – whose first responsibility is to defend their citizens and subjects – must fight to identify and prevent these campaigns using every method available”.

The Snowden leaks have compromised the work of the intelligence services:• Eric Holder (US attorney general): “I assure you that we will hold

accountable the person who is responsible for these extremely damaging leaks. The national security of the United States has been damaged as a result of these leaks”.

Social media companies should do more to fight terror: • David Cameron: “The Prime Minister called on the technology companies

to live up to their “social responsibility” and develop ways of blocking inflammatory material before it was posted”.

Targets of SurveillanceTarget Percentage None listed 81.0% Foreign politicians/world leaders 4.7% Terrorists 4.5% Public 4.3% 'allies' 2.0% Friends 0.9% Other 0.8% Criminals 0.4% Governments 0.3% UK/US politicians 0.2% Journalists 0.2% Businesses 0.2% Partners 0.1% 'enemies' 0.1% Public Officials 0.1% Students 0.1%

Conclusions so far…• Snowden prominent in coverage

– Largely discussed in neutral or positive terms• BUT: Debates around surveillance framed by elites rather

than citizens. • Elite-centred structures of news coverage: Means

consequences and extent of mass surveillance of citizens are largely invisible

Conclusions so far…

• Lack of discussion of:– Citizen rights surrounding surveillance (including

human rights, privacy)– Mass surveillance– Regulation of surveillance

Conclusions so far…

• Dominance of discourse on state and corporate responsibilities for surveillance • Protecting national security• Anti-terrorism surveillance

• Media coverage contributes to justification for mass surveillance