The Snowden Revelations and the Mediapolis

• In Event: Digital Surveillance and Citizenship

Abstract

This paper looks at the case of the Snowden revelations as a global media event that helps us identify changes in the discursive landscape related to issues of privacy, security and surveillance. Building on Roger Silverstone’s notion of mediapolis, an empirical and normative space where citizens self-actualize, Kunelius and Russell explore the limits and possibilities of this space and the shifting boundaries of the “sphere of legitimate controversy” in the discourse surrounding the Snowden revelations. The paper draws on empirical data from their work with a transnational comparative research team studying Snowden-related media discourse in nine locations (USA, UK, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Germany, France, Norway and Finland) to discuss how journalists, civic actors, experts and other stakeholders defend their positions in the struggles of free expression, political participation and democratic accountability in various geopolitical and mediated contexts.

Authors

• Adrienne Russell, U of Denver

• Risto Kunelius, U of Tampere