ABSTRACT

The recognition that digital surveillance is becoming ubiquitous has prompted varied responses from targeted groups. This article explores the ways through which journalists resist state-driven digital surveillance in Zimbabwe. It is based on in-depth qualitative interviews with practising journalists, sampled from the print media. The article utilises panopticon theory, which holds that victims of surveillance alter their behaviour upon the realisation of being surveilled. The interviews were subjected to thematic analysis. The article finds, among other issues, that as forms of resistance to surveillance, journalists in Zimbabwe now reduce their ‘digital footprints’ and have started to re-think the spaces in which they engage with their sources. The article argues that journalists, as a discursive community, should keep the issue of state surveillance on the mainstream agenda and maintain both organised and ad-hoc forms of resistance as ways of ‘speaking back to the state’. Conscientising the public can, possibly, provide a positive starting point for responsible, transparent and fair regulation of state surveillance practices and assist in ‘fencing off’ state intrusion in the field of journalism. In addition, journalists should push for legislation that protects their news sources.

摘要

对数字监控无处不在的认识促使目标群体做出了不同的反应。本文探讨了记者在津巴布韦抵制国家驱动的数字监控的方式。它基于对实践记者的深入定性采访，从印刷媒体中抽取样本。文章利用全景监狱理论，该理论认为监控的受害者在意识到被监控后会改变他们的行为。访谈进行了专题分析。文章发现，除其他问题外，作为对监视的抵制形式，津巴布韦的记者现在减少了他们的“数字足迹”，并开始重新思考他们与来源接触的空间。这篇文章认为，记者作为一个话语社区，应该将国家监督问题放在主流议程上，并保持有组织的和临时的抵抗形式，作为“与国家对话”的方式。公众的意识可能为负责任、透明和公平地监管国家监督实践提供一个积极的起点，并有助于“抵御”国家对新闻领域的入侵。此外，记者应该推动立法保护他们的新闻来源。