We have to act like our devices are already infected: investigative journalists and internet surveillance

Di Salvo, Philip (2022) We have to act like our devices are already infected: investigative journalists and internet surveillance. Journalism Practice, 16 (9). 1849 - 1866. ISSN 1751-2786

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Abstract

Internet surveillance has become a crucial issue for journalism. The “Snowden moment” has shed light on the risks that journalists and their sources face while communicating online and has shown how journalists themselves can be targets of surveillance operations or other forms of malicious digital attacks from different actors. More recent revelations, such as those coming from the “Pegasus Project”, have underlined even more dangerous threats posed to the safety of journalists, increasingly targeted with spyware technology. Due to the sensitivity of their work and sources and given their strong “watchdog” role in democracies, investigative reporters are in a particularly dangerous position when it comes to the potential chilling effects of surveillance on their work of journalists. This paper analyzes investigative journalists’ views and self-reflections on the impacts of Internet surveillance on their work by means of in-depth qualitative interviews with reporters affiliated with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and working in Italy, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. The paper touches on different angles of the Internet surveillance issue by analyzing journalists’ concerns about national and international surveillance players and the overall impact of surveillance on news work.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rjop20
Additional Information:	© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Divisions:	Media and Communications
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Date Deposited:	17 Feb 2022 11:24
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:51
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/113768

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