WikiLeaks

Julian Assange is the famous founder of the website WikiLeaks, whose activities around the world forced him to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, where he still resides to this day. Assange established WikiLeaks in 2006 in an attempt to find a way to publish and release sensitive information about governments around the world. It is essentially a non-profit whistle-blowing organization. Anyone from anywhere in the world can submit information to the website to be published. In 2010, WikiLeaks published information titled “Afghan War Diaries” and a video titled “Collateral Murder,” which featured information and footage of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. After that, the U.S. and other governments opened criminal investigations against Assange. Two women in Sweden also file charges against Assange for refusing to take an STD test after he had sex with them. Assange was placed in jail for a short amount of time and then released on bail, after which he was placed on house arrest. The investigation has been frozen since 2010. At one point, Assange tried to force his employees to sign nondisclosure agreemenst but many refused, arguing that he was asking them to do the same kind of thing that their organization was trying to uncover. According to friends and colleagues, Assange became arrogant and secretive.

            I think that WikiLeaks is a whistleblower. The organization, in several instances, released sensitive information to the public in several different countries, including the United States. According to Investopedia.com, a whistleblower is “anyone who has and reports insider knowledge of illegal activities occurring in an organization. The video “Collateral Murder” showed American soldiers killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan. The soldiers thought the civilians were enemy combatants, but they were really journalists. Though the video and war diaries included names of people in the U.S. military who could potentially become targets, Assange decided to publish the information on his website because he believed that the good outweighed the prospective harm. In addition to publishing the information on his website, Assange worked with media outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times. While Assange was subjected to a criminal investigation for the publication of this material, the newspapers were not.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that WikiLeaks is a spy because there is a difference between a whistleblower and a spy. A spy is someone who actively works against a country or organization (with that country or organization’s enemy) to obtain information about or against that country. In contrast, a whistleblower releases the information they find to the media and to easily detectable places, whereas a spy gives the information they attain directly to whoever they are working for. Assange worked in tandem with different newspapers to release the information about the war in Afghanistan and published information openly on his website, with the possibility that he would be criticized in the media and arrested for his actions. A distinction must be made here, however. Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks and published the information he found on the WikiLeaks website, but some of his actions as a human being, separate from his website, were not very commendable. Journalists must maintain a constant balancing act between reporting the truth to the public and minimizing harm to the public. In the instance of the Afghan War Diaries, Assange decided to publish information that could potentially bring harm to different people. He fulfilled his journalistic obligation of reporting the truth but also allowed possible harm to come to multiple people. Assange also refused to take an STD test, as was demanded by the Swedish police and the two women that he slept with there. Though Assange’s actions outside of WikiLeaks were not admirable, WikiLeaks itself was and is acting as a whistleblower exposing the secrets of governments and corporations.

I believe that WikiLeaks has the right to reveal classified and hidden secrets of governments and corporations. If WikiLeaks is truly acting in the form of a whistleblower, then it is fulfilling its role of reporting the truth. After all, journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. As stated before, I do think there is sometimes a line that shouldn’t be crossed when releasing sensitive information. Journalists should aim to minimize harm to the public with which it is reporting information to, so I think that a whistleblower should weigh the possible consequences of reporting information that could bring harm to someone. 

UNT partners with local shelter to raise awareness

A friend tells you that their partner is abusing them. As you listen to their story, you wonder how you can help them. You know you have to do something but you do not know where to turn for answers.

Denton County Friends of the Family is a resource in the Denton community that many UNT students do not know about. Friends of the Family was founded in 1980 and is the sole provider in Denton County for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

The Dean of Students office at UNT is attempting to educate students about resources like Friends of the Family by implementing awareness campaigns throughout the year that aim to inform students about the resources available to them.

“UNT has a great relationship with Denton County Friends of the Family,” UNT Survivor Advocate Renée LeClaire McNamara said. “They have many members who sit on our committee, the Committee on Prevention & Education on Sexual Assault & Intimate Partner Violence. They help plan different events and do a lot of trainings around campus.”

The primary resource Denton Friends of the Family offers the community is an emergency shelter for victims of violence. Along with the shelter, Friends of the Family provides individual and group counseling for survivors who are looking for help in overcoming their abuse.

“As a staff counselor at Friends of the Family, I provide individual counseling, play therapy, and activity therapy services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault/abuse,” Staff Counselor Bissera Nitchovska said. “I work with children, adolescents, and adults.”

In addition to after-care services, Friends of the Family offers legal aid, community outreach programs, help with budgeting, financial planning, and career planning and hospital accompaniment for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Not all of the services that Friends of the Family offers are for survivors. The Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (VIPP) is a 27-week program geared toward helping individuals who are abusive in their relationships. The program addresses the belief system of the abuser and teaches new respectful behaviors to replace the abusive behaviors.

Friends of the Family also has several programs that teach young people in the community about healthy relationships and domestic and sexual violence. Community Education Specialist Nathan Richardson works to implement education and awareness programs in schools and events throughout Denton.

“Primarily, my job is to go into schools and teach about domestic violence and sexual assault,” Richardson said. “We have programs that teach kids how to have healthy relationships, setting boundaries, decision making, and those sorts of things. With older kids, we start getting into dating violence and gender socialization.”

There are several ways that students can get involved at Friends of the Family. Volunteers are always needed in areas like advocacy, shelter programs, office work and childcare.

“Volunteers are crucial to Friends of the Family’s ability to deliver services from rocking babies, painting shelter rooms, and giving presentations, to helping at our Thrift Store or serving on our Survivors Advocacy Team,” Violence Intervention & Prevention Program Counselor Taylor Cameron said. “Our volunteers make it possible for us to provide services to individuals and families in our community impacted by violence.”

If you would like to know more about volunteer opportunities, visit Denton County Friends of the Family’s website at http://www.dcfof.org/pages/become.php.

If you or someone you know has been impacted by domestic violence or sexual assault on campus, email SurvivorAdvocate@unt.edu or call Denton County Friends of the Family’s 24-hour crisis line at 940-382-7273 for more information on resources and what to do next.

UNT celebrates national News Engagement Day

It’s the bane of a young person’s existence; the persistent assumption that young adults today don’t care about what is going on in the world. Though keeping up with news may look different than it did 20 years ago, many young people care about the news and learn about it in many different ways.

Oct. 6 was the 2^nd Annual News Engagement Day, an event sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication that aims to engage people in news and emphasize why news matters. The Mayborn School of Journalism participated in the event and encouraged students to get involved.

The hashtag #newsengagementday was created to encourage schools, media, and organizations to take part in the event on social media and to highlight the importance of staying informed.

“I think keeping up with the news is important because I see it as a way of opening your mind,” sophomore fashion merchandising major Stephanie Casas-Salas said. “It helps you to be more open-minded about different issues.”

With the advent of online news, people today get their news from a variety of sources. While many people still rely on print and TV, growing numbers of people turn to sources such as social media and mobile applications to stay informed.

“That’s the first thing I do in the morning, is go through my apps and read different news stories,” senior English literature major Diana McBarnes said. “I don’t have games on my phone, so whenever I’m sitting in between classes or waiting somewhere, I’m always reading the news.”

Not everyone gets their news online, however. Several students said that they watch the news on TV because it makes them feel more involved with the news they are consuming.

“Obviously online news is the most accessible, but I’m more comfortable with the TV news format,” junior marketing major Sarah said. “With online news, I feel like I tend to miss things only because you get little blurbs.”

Students also believe news is important because of the ways in which it could potentially affect them. National news is important but there are many events that happen on a local level that are just as important.

“I personally think news is important, and not just news from where I live,” sophomore economics major Zach Welke said. “It’s important for young people to know what’s going on, especially if it’s something that could affect you.”

Many people agree that keeping up with current news is an integral part of being an informed member of society, but that doesn’t mean that you have to let the news form opinions for you.

“For me, it’s important, but it’s not like over-consuming,” senior English secondary education major Amber Fonseca said. “I want to know what’s going on and be informed, but I also want to be able to formulate my own opinion.”

Outfoxed

The Fox News channel was created by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch in 1996. Former Republican Party consultant and NBC executive Roger Ailes was hired as the founding CEO of the news channel. The channel is broadcast to millions of homes around America and places a heavy emphasis on graphics and audio effects to catch the attention of viewers and keep a steady audience. Fox News has often been criticized as a biased media outlet that confuses commentary with news and derides the views of people whose ideologies do not line up with their own. There are many principles that journalists are expected to uphold and stand by, such as reporting truth and accuracy, never adding anything that was not there, being as transparent as possible and having accountability for consequences. 

Fox News has had the same two slogans for years: “Fair and Balanced,” and “We report, you decide.” Though Fox News claims to be a fair and balanced news outlet, this does not always seem to be the case. One of the five concepts from the foundation of the discipline of verification says “Be as transparent as possible about your methods and motives.” The documentary includes interviews with several former reporters for Fox who say that each morning, reporters would receive a memo from their bosses telling them which stories to focus on throughout the day. Oftentimes, these memos would tell employees to do things like discredit liberal agendas or liberal politicians. This style of reporting does not reflect a desire to be transparent in reporting methods; rather, it demonstrates how Fox News attempts to present an often skewed view of what is going on in the country and push their own agenda. Another concept from the foundations of the discipline of verification says to exercise humility. Fox News has several shows with specific reporters/hosts, some of which include “The Bill O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity.” On his nightly show, Bill O’Reilly sometimes invites Liberal guests to talk about certain issues and is frequently rude to these guests, telling them to shut up and yelling at them when they express an opinion contrary to his opinion. O’Reilly’s show on Fox News is just one example of how reporters and hosts for the news channel do not always exercise humility and even tell guests to leave, as in the case of Jeremy Glick. 

One of the Radio Television Digital News Association’s guiding principles says that journalists should hold “accountability for consequences.” Over the years, Fox News has let journalistic and ethical slippery slopes pass in order to keep a reporter where they are. One such case occurred when correspondent Carl Cameron interviewed presidential candidate George W. Bush during his presidential campaign. This may not seem like a problem except for the fact that Cameron’s wife was working on staff for Bush’s campaign. For most, this would seem like a conflict of interest, but Fox News did nothing about it and treated as if it were not a problem. Reporters for the channel often say things like “Some people say” in an attempt to expand on something other people say when really, the reporter is the person who expresses that opinion. These statement are not usually attributed to an actual person and it is not difficult to realize that the reporter is trying to state their own opinion but not outright say it. All in all, it would seem that Fox News does not adhere to many of the principles set out for journalists to uphold journalistic integrity, accuracy, and transparency in reporting.