Communication, Privacy and Security

Communication, Privacy and Security

Over the years, communication has been a core section in the evolution of man and man-made features and industries across the globe. Media has emerged as one of the most powerful tools to communicate a variety of messages to people in the globe. Various platforms have developed which delivers urgent messages to a lot of people across the world. Media can be described as a two-edged sword. It has both the advantages and disadvantages as well.  However, the paper explores the intense level of development which has resulted in several challenges to nations as well as individuals and private businesses. As a result of this, this study will be standing on the crossroad of communication, privacy and security which happens to be the main topic in the United States which has been dubbed the United States of Secrets (FRONTLINE). This study will be reviewing a FRONTLINE documentary on how the United States has been violating the privacy of many of its citizens as well as tapping into a number of the well-known global private companies based in the USA. This study will also look at offering a better comprehension of what this topic means concerning media literacy, especially in the 21^st century. This will provide a better and comprehensive grasp on the extent of the study.

Thesis

Based on the case documentary, this studies thesis statement happens to be as follows; privacy is a luxury that has only been left out for the top one per cent since the internet and technology are culprits aiming at eradicating consumer privacy.

Reality through Media

Before technology and the internet was made public, privacy was one of the most valued entities that many people hold on to at all costs, however, as time and technology evolved, this is an entity that has ended up being overwhelmed and has been overthrown over time as a result of more and more people coming closer to communicate and share pieces of their lives with everyone through the internet and social networks. It is also true to say that this is a dilemma that we had brought upon ourselves once when went on to allow various parts of our lives to go public and be viewed as well as shared across the globe. The documentary captures this in a new light on how the United States government has been tapping into information belong to the citizens of the nation and using it to monitor people across different avenues. Nevertheless, various platforms in USA has been violating the rights of privacy of individuals be exposing their secrets. This is very harmful to both the citizens and the government of the USA. One of the significant drawbacks that can be associated with this is the extent to which it has fueled terrorism. According to the message released by the minister of USA internal affairs, media platforms have facilitated a lot to terrorist activities by exposing critical government secrets. Additionally, terrorist use media platforms for communication. However, the most unpleasant situation is the inability of the platforms to disclose these messages to the government.

Media is a form of education and information sharing that tends to be the main ears and eyes of the public and has a substantial obligation in offering nothing but authentic information to the mass population. Despite this being a crucial role, the information exposed to the media should be sorted out to avoid spreading information which would be harmful to the citizens. This is an idea that is strongly presented in the documentary in a practical form. This is seen when the media moguls that managed to have an interaction with Edward Snowden had to ensure that they could authenticate the information that he claimed to offer. Not only this, but the journalists had to confirm with the White House for claims and comments to ensure when the information when to the public, it was nothing but authentic and genuine to its core. The idea of media impartiality is also vividly demonstrated in the documentary on how the journalists and media houses did not sway the publishing of the information after being persuaded by the White House. This also goes to show how strongly the idea of accountability is respected and valued by the media personalities.

These three core ideas that are present in the documentary make this film a more interactive and essential point of study in a manner that enables other media students and those who interact with media forms to find learning points that ensure that media remains to cherish

these values.

The FRONTLINE documentary is an eye-opener in that it has taken a step further in looking for research that further strengthens the findings that are made in by the initial reports offered. The one-on-one interactions and interviews of the study also provide more information relating to the topic on privacy when it comes to media as well as the internet and how many people across the world, especially the US are using it.

Media literacy is also another concept that is actively being pioneered through this documentary through the application of five of the core principles of media literacy. The fact that media constructs reality alone is a principle that is strongly represented in this documentary in two iconic manners. The first is that presented by the journalists who had a seating with Snowden and came to understand that social media was a flagship of collection of data and it merely was a brainwash like no other where people end up showing a lot about themselves and offering more about their personal lives than they ought to. This was an element of surprise since social media is a form of media, and it has constructed reality of social life that many people seem accustomed too. The fact that Snowden too believed that this information was better off offered to the public through media challenges was also a sign on how much influence media had on shaping reality. This is so since he could have easily opened a blog and released all the data to the broad masses. However, Snowden, as well as NSA at the time along with the large corporation in the cyber scandal, saw how media contain ideological and value messages as well as how media had commercial implications.

As soon as the information was leaked, large corporations began to fight off the stain and tried as much as possible to air out its issues as well as build a new reputation for themselves since they were facing commercial implications as a result of being exposed for being in bed with the government at the expense of the user’s privacy and personal data. This was documentary that on its own offered media literacy as it aimed at informing the public on what took places as well as what factors led to the escalated turn of events that saw NSA become a brutal force in obtaining personal data belonging to the United States citizens without their consent (FRONTLINE).