ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SECOND PART

The first of two pieces I’ve found that discuss WikiLeaks from the perspective of rhetorical analysis is Watching the Domestication of the Wikileaks Helicopter Controversy by Marouf A. Hasian. This article considers rhetorical techniques the US government has used to misdirect or distract the public from the "collateral murder" video Wikileaks released. His discussion includes the tendency of in humanity to glorify war in addition to responsible journalism as it relates to documenting tragedies of war on location and the associated ambivalence over these acts by U.S. contractors. Hasian introduces early his discussion “domestication practices” of the government in relation to assimilating difficult facts of war. This is an important discussion point because the author codifies the general practice of familiarizing war by the government, which included flat out false claims of ignorance on behalf of the government over civilian deaths caused by US troops, in efforts to subvert appropriate concentrated public concern over these facts. These facts give attention to how the US government builds an army in such a way that creates perceptions of death and killing as emotionally exhilarating and pleasurable in its soldiers. 

The second piece I found that engages in a rhetorical analysis is Noa Aharony’s article WikiLeaks comments: a study of responses to articles. This piece looks at public discussion, and opinion, on WikiLeaks in online newspapers. This article looks at the rhetorical manner in which these public discussions are presented by the public. So, through the use of rhetorical analysis the authors are able to synthesize and interpret the information gathered and assess the qualitative value regarding democratic potential WikiLeaks holds in the virtual public sphere. Also, Aharony’s piece addresses user generated content rhetorically in terms of ethos, pathos and logos, and develops the study via page organizational page design elements like charts and lists. Whereas Hasian explains how the government presents its perspective rhetorically through techniques apology and humanization and by re-contextualizing images. Hasian analyzes images of the event released by U.S. Central Command which portray the 2007 incident with added markers. The rhetorical analytics of these sources are definitely in agreement. 

My next chosen source We’re Going To Crack The World Open addresses journalist’s point of view on WikiLeaks through a survey, which speaks to the techniques used in the first source mentioned above. Lynch discusses how the interface the organization uses (Wiki) is promoted by Assange as uniquely capable of scrutinizing the information it disseminates, and cites Assange’s words from the “About” page on wikileaks.org. This area of discourse calls attention Assange’s criticisms of traditional media outlets as well as the listings of journalists on the site, which assess overall a somewhat precarious relationship between WikiLeaks and journalists set forth by Wikileaks. She includes dissatisfaction from Wikileaks regarding public utilization of documents the organization releases. This source deals with an essential component of the public sphere and relates back to the second article mentioned in that it addresses the personal relationships between journalists and the organization. In addition to Assanges way of speaking to the media via the website and how this impacts the organizations relationships with journalists. Whereas Aharony’s article focuses on the natural rhetorical techniques created by users in online news publications. This article does not relate to the first article in that it is not focused on content, but rather how form shapes (our) relationships (with) to the content WikiLeaks presents.

The final article Wikileaks, Journalism And The Consequences Of Chaos by Brian McNair relates to the other’s in its discussions of new media (and the accelerated dissemination of news) and the democratization potential that WikiLeaks is a part of in the public sphere. This addresses the third article second articles in how media is constructed online. However, it introduces the digital nature of new media as a factor in considering online processes of democratization. McNair goes into a discussion on how across the globe, in places like Libya for example, politics is "looking unprecedentedly fragile and uncertain." He talks about how the immediacy of digital media has played a role in supporting this because atrocities are so quickly exposed through it. This point is taken further by McNair by discussing how this form of media plays a vital role in the transition, in authoritarian political states like Gaddafi's Libya, away from "elite" rule and secrecy. Thus, this article provides an objective viewpoint on the impact of the digital dissemination of information by looking at it globally.