Date of Graduation
5-2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Journalism (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Journalism
Advisor/Mentor
Jordan, Gerald B.
Committee Member
Carpenter, Dale
Second Committee Member
Walker, Kasey L.
Keywords
Communication and the arts; Daniel Ellsberg; Edward Snowden; Espionage act; Whistleblower
Abstract
On June 9, 2013, the world was introduced to Edward Joseph Snowden, a 29-year-old NSA contractor and the man responsible for the biggest leak of classified government documents in American history. Almost immediately, comparisons were drawn between Snowden and another famous whistleblower--Daniel Ellsberg, the man behind the 1971 release of the Pentagon Papers. The overwhelming rhetoric surrounding the comparison was that Ellsberg was a true American patriot and that Snowden was nothing like him, that he was a traitor. Despite Ellsberg's own claims that he and Snowden are exactly alike, the media still finds Snowden lacking when comparing him with Ellsberg. This research examined a sample of new organizations' portrayals of Ellsberg and Snowden during their respective whistleblowing scandals to determine what similarities and differences exist in the coverage.
Citation
McLoud, K. (2015). Treasonous Patriot: A Comparative Content Analysis of the Media's Portrayals of Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1066
