Overview
- Rather than assuming that WikiLeaks has changed the rules of the game vis-à-vis activism and/or of journalism in a fundamental way, this book takes the premise that Assange’s organization has encountered serious problems in terms of successfully engaging the public from the outset, and that this situation was inevitable
- Looks to issues which go beyond conventional accounts of how WikiLeaks’ revelations have been received by audiences over the short-term and how leaked information has been utilized by other transparency proponents to view the organization’s activities within the broader context of an ongoing legitimation crisis on the part of the US political system
- Evaluates the contexts and sets of circumstances which may serve either to facilitate or undermine the success of any social actor committed to meaningful political change
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About this book
WikiLeaks poses a unique challenge to state and commercial institutions. This book considers the whistleblower platform’s ongoing importance, focusing on the informational and communicative paradoxes it faces, and the shifting strategies it has adopted over time. Attention to these matters provides insight into the nature of the contemporary networked, post-truth media environment, and the types of factors likely to affect the success of activist groups today. Chapter 1 introduces WikiLeaks’ significance as a novel expression of counterpower, outlining the disclosures marking its career. Chapters 2 through 4 address the dilemmas confronting WikiLeaks in its attempts to engage the public with and without the cooperation of mainstream news organizations. Chapter 5 appraises how WikiLeaks has adjusted its strategies to take better advantage of a densely populated and globally networked media environment within the larger context of an ongoing political legitimation crisis. Chapter6 extends this analysis to the case of Russiagate.
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Keywords
Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“Marmura’s timely and critically nuanced account of Wikileaks is important reading for all those interested in the theory and politics of competitive truth tellers in conditions of post-truth communication.” (Jayson Harsin, Associate Professor, Department of Global Communications, The American University of Paris, France)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Stephen M. E. Marmura is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at St. Francis Xavier University, Canada.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The WikiLeaks Paradigm
Book Subtitle: Paradoxes and Revelations
Authors: Stephen M. E. Marmura
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97139-1
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-97138-4Published: 24 September 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-97139-1Published: 06 September 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 138
Topics: Media and Communication, Digital/New Media, Political Sociology, Media Sociology, Political Communication