Computer hard drives, which were smashed by Guardian executives to avoid leaking secret government documents, have been displayed in a new media and public exhibition over the past 500 years.
Breaking the News, which opens at the British Library on Friday, raises challenging questions for historians, social commentators and news collectors, as well as the general public who learn about the events through mainstream and social media.
Based on archival material preserved by the library, including 450 million pages of newspapers from 1619 to the present day, the exhibition highlights issues of truth and trust in the media, censorship and oppression, ethics, distortion and partisanship.
Luke McKernan, the show’s chief curator, said: “There has never been a time when news has been so hotly debated, so sought after and so diverse in its forms. Each story in the exhibition tells us something different about why news is important. ”
The exhibition, which took four years to assemble, explores “the forces that drive news; the relationship between those who provide and those who consume news; “fake news, ‘alternative facts’ and what the truth is,” he added.
“He does not answer questions about these issues; rather, it comes with more questions. “
The exhibition is arranged thematically, not chronologically. The Guardian’s hard drives, destroyed by angle grinders and drills monitored by two technicians from GCHQ, the government’s spy agency, are in the public interest.
The documents in question came from Edward Snowden, a National Security Agency contractor, in 2013 as part of the largest leak of Western intelligence. The Guardian destroyed the computers after the government explicitly threatened the newspaper with an order to return the material, citing national and international security. The newspaper claims that his revelations about surveillance and confidentiality violations are in the public interest.
Quick guide
Highlights from the exhibition Breaking the News
show
The trial of Oscar Wilde of Illustrated Police News in 1895
One of the biggest Victorian celebrity scandals that sparked outrage in the newspapers
Footage from the newsreel of the Titanic
Shown amid a great appetite for information after the sinking of the luxury liner in 1912, the footage is actually from the Titanic’s brother ship.
Occupation of Guernsey during World War II
On the cover of the Guernsey Evening Press on July 1, 1940, the “Orders of the Commander of the German Forces in the Occupation of Guernsey” were listed. By 1942, the Guns Underground News Service had begun illegally distributing BBC news reports printed on tomato wrapping paper.
A moment of the century from the Sunday Times
Adolf Hitler’s diaries, “discovered” in 1983, were exposed as forgeries after the newspaper published its “global exclusivity”.
Latest issue of News of the World
“Thank you and goodbye,” the front page said on July 10, 2007. Rupert Murdoch closed the paper after revelations that journalists had hacked the phones of public and private individuals.
Photo: Imaging Services / British Library
Thank you for your feedback.
The Disaster section includes footage of angry and upset residents of Grenfell Tower and its neighboring homes, accusing journalists of failing to report warnings to residents that the building was dangerous.
“You only come when we die,” said one man after a fire in 2017 that killed 72 people and destroyed a 24-story building in west London.
“Conflict” includes the BBC Home Service’s broadcast on June 6, 1944, in which details of the D-Day landings were made public, and an emotional report by military correspondent Marie Colvin for Channel 4 News on the Syrian government’s bombing of Homs in 2012. Colvin was killed the next day.
A section called Chaos links the British Civil War in the 1940s to the recent report on the Brexit campaign. “Both happened at a time when new types of media were emerging and old models of control were collapsing, leading to division and chaos,” the explanatory board said.
Partisanship in the media is illustrated by contrasting coverage of the front pages of the 1936 anti-fascist battle on Cable Street. Chernoriza, the newspaper of the British Fascist Union, welcomed the victory against the Red Mafia.
The exhibition also examines the media and the unwavering public interest in crime and celebrities, the power of language, satire and verification issues.
The oldest object on display is the earliest surviving print report on the Battle of Floden in 1513. The latter is a live broadcast with current news stories at this time, whenever.
The British Library has partnered with around 50 libraries in the United Kingdom, which will display materials from the London exhibition along with materials from local sources.
Samira Ahmed, chair of a panel advising the exhibition, said it showed how the news has always connected us as citizens, from the time of the Tudors to the present day. This shows how valuable it is to face the truth, sometimes in the face of official censorship and control.
Breaking the News is in the British Library in St Pancras, London, until 22 August.
Add Comment