It is often assumed that authors want recognition. This assumption is especially true for journalists. There is a common understanding that journalism is a changed game. For many people, breaking into journalism involves a great deal of unpaid work, working on assignments that could only be considered journalism in the most tenuous way, and this is no guarantee of finding stable or well paid work. After investing all of this effort it is understandable that journalists want recognition for the work they carry out.

With the rise of social media this recognition need not always be found in a financial form. Some people are more interested in engaging a particular group or interest and build followings and recognition based around expertise in these areas. For these individuals their ‘journalism’ might not be a career bu is something they enjoy doing or feel passionate about.

However this is not always the case. People who may not consider themselves journalists, but who write about current events, have instead told stories with a deliberate aim of keeping the author of the work hidden.

Anonymous journalism

There a numerous examples, both historical and contemporary, of people engaging in anonymous journalism. This journalism is not without an author or authors, rather these authors have a variety of reasons for trying to remain anonymous.

A particularly well known example of this kind of journalism was carried out by the White Rose movement in Nazi Germany. The White Rose movement consisted of a group of students at the University of Munich who produced and distributed leaflets criticising the Nazi regime.

People began receiving copies of the leaflets in the mail. Students at the University of Hamburg began copying and distributing them. Copies began turning up in different parts of Germany and Austria. Moreover, as Hanser points out, the members of The White Rose did not limit themselves to leaflets. Graffiti began appearing in large letters on streets and buildings all over Munich: “Down with Hitler! . . . Hitler the Mass Murderer!” and “Freiheit! . . . Freiheit! . . . Freedom! . . . Freedom!” http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html

In 1942 the process of spreading their message involved a whole host of practicalities:

The Gestapo was driven into a frenzy. It knew that the authors were having to procure large quantities of paper, envelopes, and postage. It knew that they were using a duplicating machine. But despite the Gestapo’s best efforts, it was unable to catch the perpetrators. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html

In the end the members of the White Rose movement were caught and executed. They had failed to remain anonymous. There remain many contemporary examples of journalists continuing to persecuted as a result of their journalism. The Al-Jazeera journalists currently imprisoned in Egypt and the recent murder of journalists in Paris are just two examples of the dangers associated with journalism.

The question of ‘authorship’ can be one of a theoretical nature; a debate around the authority an author has over their work and the role the audience can play. However, in other cases the question of who is an author can have very direct consequences. Often in discussions of self publishing we can think of people trying to develop followings for themselves - whether for financial gain or not, but there are instances when journalists would have very good reasons for wishing to remain anoymous.

I’m hoping the discussions around copyright in next weeks session will help expand on these ideas.