Media
professional profile Julian Assange
“You have to start with the truth. The
truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making
that is based upon lies or ignorance can’t lead to a good conclusion.”[1]
Born Julian Paul Assange on
3rd July 1971 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Julian Assange studied
programming, mathematics and physics at Central Queensland university
graduating in 1994.[2]He
is most famous for founding the media organisation Wikileaks. Mr. Assange has
received the Walkeys award for outstanding contribution to journalism in 2011,
in addition to his many other awards relating to his continued work to uncover
truth to power. Julian Assange currently resides in the Ecuadorean Embassy in
London having sort refuge and was granted political asylum.[3]
He has been in the embassy since 2012.
There is divided opinion
on whether Julian Assange is indeed a hero or villain. Even as he is cloistered
in the embassy he is still actively involved in the consequential undertaking
of holding governments and large corporations to account for their actions.
Does the release of confidential documents via Wikileaks endanger lives or save
lives? According to Stephen Richter editor-in-chief of The Globalist, he should
be thanked for the dramatic shock he gave the United States government for
bringing to light the insecurity of sensitive data, exposing the flaws that led
to cybercrime.[4] Interestingly,
Assange was once a hacker himself going by the handle of Mendex in 1987.
There can be no denying
the commitment of Assange and the incredible sacrifices he has made to hold
governments and organisations to account by publishing documents that uncover
lies, expose corruption and perceived injustices. He is basically in self-exiled
house arrest having now obtained Ecuadorian Citizenship in a bid to thwart
extradition to Sweden for alleged sexual assault charges.[5]
The legal case for his release is still on going in the British high Court.
Assange’s career has been
greatly influenced by media convergence and globalisation. The emergence of the
computer and subsequent development of the internet has connected the globe and
facilitated the rapid advancement of the aptly titled information highway with
far reaching effect.[6]
Globalisation now relies on internet media convergence in a way that analogue
media could never have envisioned. If the purpose of journalism is to provide
citizens with information, none has been more influential than Assange and his
WikiLeaks site founded in 2006.
Without the ability to
receive information via the internet and distribute the unedited information
globally through modern day digital media and its ever-increasing formats,
Assange may possibly not have contributed to the political narrative and the
controversy that has ensued by publication of sensitive documents. His
utilisation of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
have elevated Wikileaks and Julian Assange to household names.
According to Professor John Hartley,
journalism is in the midst of a major crisis about what counts for journalism
and who practices it.[7]
He lists Wikileaks alongside citizen journalists and the blogosphere as
“amateurs”.[8] Whether
the wider community of professional journalists and indeed consumers of media
content put Wikileaks in this category is debatable, although WikiLeaks is
purported to be funded solely by donations and wealthy benefactors. Rightly or
wrongly Assange continues to play a vital role in the Fourth Estate.
Some commentators in the journalism,
media and communications field believe that the Fourth Estate is on life
support and that Wikileaks and Julian Assange operate in the ether of the Fifth
Estate which is not liable to the scrutiny of governments or controlled by big
corporations.[9]
If the Fourth Estate or
Fourth power is journalism or more commonly known as the press. Then purpose of
the press is to inform citizens to make informed decisions about their lives,
society and their governance then Assange is probably the very definition of
the Fourth Estate which operates in the virtually unaccountable Fifth Estate, assuming
all information broadcast via Wikileaks is in fact verified as true. The
anonymous sources or whistleblowers that supply Assange and thus WikiLeaks with
sensitive and at times classified information are unable to be scrutinized by
the wider media community. Assange prides himself on never having published a
falsehood which is why governments throughout the world fear his far-reaching
power.
The public sphere was
Jurgen Habermas’s original concept in 1962 that has evolved from the London
coffee house culture where people assembled to discuss ideas, debate and opine
current affairs[10] to
the present mass communications of digital media with social media platforms
dominating the internet. Assange was astute enough to quickly adopt this new
progressive platform of social media with tremendous success in the publishing of
sensitive documents that WikiLeaks deemed to be in the public interest, in
addition to pleading his case in the court of public opinion.
Corporate brands like Nike, Apple and Coca Cola
have all realised the enormous market potential of the public sphere via the
internet through social media and have invested heavily in the promotion of
products. Politicians initially slow to adopt social media as a legitimate
platform are now playing catch up. President Obama used social media
effectively. It also enabled President Trump to bypass main stream media and
get his message to masses without news editors tailoring his message to suit
their agenda, likewise
Assange. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram have become the new “London coffee house”[1]
where conflicting views on both sides of politics has taken centre stage over concise,
accurate news reporting and constructive debate.
The main stream media,
politicians and government seek to hold on to the narrative. The internet and
social-media have taken away to a large extent their control of the narrative.
Main stream journalists have endeavored to deal with this change and have
attempted to control the widening reach of social media.[2]
Julian Assange and Wikileaks have been instrumental in disseminating
information into the public sphere and whist this has created many critics and
enemies, conversely it has to others made Assange a champion of truth and
justice in their opinion.
Assange and his
associated whistleblowers risk their lives and liberty to publish intelligence
documents. One such case was that of the American Private Bradley Manning who
gave WikiLeaks the gun barrel video in July 2007 called “Collateral Murder” and
was subsequently convicted and incarcerated.[3]
Assange choosing to make this public via YouTube, brought about an inquiry and
shone a torch on the brutality of the United States in the Iraq war.
In summary Julian Assange
has made politicians, governments, the military and big corporations around the
globe constantly think twice and question their actions for fear of been
exposed as corrupt, unethical and morally bankrupt. Some will say he is a
danger to democracy, others that he holds up the principles of the Fourth
Estate in which a free press is the very foundation of democracy.
As contemporary society
has embraced the technological advances of the internet and its social media platforms,
there is a certainty that social media and the Fifth Estate is not going away,
and neither is the likes of Wikileaks and Julian Assange.
1] Assange J, ‘Julian Assange Bibliography, 2017’: TheFamousPeople. TheFamousPeople Online, 2018.
Web 24 April 2018 <https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/julian-assange-6527.php>.
[2]Michael R, ‘Julian Assange’: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia
Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 2018.Web 24 April 2018 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-Assange>.
[3] ‘Julian Assange Bibliography, 2017’: TheFamousPeople. TheFamousPeople Online, 2018.
Web 24 April 2018 <https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/julian-assange-6527.php>.
[4]
Richter, S, ‘Julian Assange: Villain or hero, 26
July 2011’: The Globalist. The Globalist
Online, 2018. Web 24 April 2018 <https://www.theglobalist.com/julian-assange-villain-or-hero/>.
[5]
Michael R, ‘Julian Assange’: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia
Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 2018.Web 24 April 2018
<https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-Assange>.
[6]
Flew T, Globalisation and Global Media
Corporations: Understanding global media Corporations (New York: Palgrave
McMillan, 2007) ch 3 at 66.
[7]
Hartley, J. Communication,
Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts Fourth Edition (London:
Routledge, 2011), at 151.
[8] Hartley, J. Communication,
Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts Fourth Edition (London:
Routledge, 2011), at 151.
[9] Adams, S.
‘Julian Assange’: Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, Paper Presented by admirers of the example
set by former CIA analyst, Sam Adam, 23 October 2010 (London, 2010).
[10] Hartley, J. Communication,
Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts Fourth Edition (London:
Routledge, 2011), at
217 – 218.
