The Anatomy of Leaking in the Age of Megaleaks

Reich, Zvi; Barnoy, Aviv

doi:10.1080/21670811.2016.1168706

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, leaks are a phenomenon that is much more mundane than what the mediatised attention to the exceptional nature of leaks such as ones by Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning suggests (Reich and Barnoy 2016). Notably, short after the recent US presidential election campaign, during which another mass leak by Wikileaks in the form of emails of the Democratic National Party dominated the news, the new Trump administration was quickly faced with, and complained about, a series of 'regular' political leaks (Hermann 2017).…”

Section: "By Virtue Of Their Unvarnished Nature Leaks Have Evolved Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Technology and the ability of junior officials to more easily access and copy politically sensitive or even confidential information could be one of the drivers of this change (Reich and Barnoy 2016). Qualitative studies indicate, however, that political appointees leaks as much as regular civil servants (Alaimo 2016).…”

Section: Leaking and Bureaucratic Politics: Theoretical And Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That being said, journalists report to prefer leaks from the middle ranks because these are seen to add to the political spin coming from higher levels and political appointees (Flynn 2006). Interestingly, and despite the advances in technology that allow for easier leaking, leaks to journalists have remained mainly an oral practice (Reich and Barnoy 2016). This requires close contact between leak sender and receiver, and may explain why leaking happens in relatively stable networks based on regular contact between policy-makers and journalists or interest groups (de Jong and de Vries 2007;Patz 2014).…”

Section: Leaking and Bureaucratic Politics: Theoretical And Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Bureaucratic Politics and the Prevention of Leaks in the European Commission

Patz¹

2017

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The European Commission, much like other executives and public administrations in Western Democracies, is frequently faced with leaks. Even though executive leaders often criticize this practice as unwanted breach of confidentiality and secrecy, research has shown that leak prevention is usually not taken seriously beyond public complaints. This paper analyses the phenomenon of leaking in the European Commission and the efforts the Commission makes to prevent leaks from its own ranks. It finds that leaking and leak prevention are regularly discussed at the highest level of the Commission. However, a survey with leak recipients suggest that leaks seem so widely distributed and frequent at various stages of internal decision-making that the existing prevention efforts seem ineffective.Analysing the rules and practices of leak prevention, the paper shows that, while there are anti-leak rules in place, there have been very few cases in which Commission leakers have been administratively sanctioned. The explanation for these observations builds on the argument that leaking is part of regular bureaucratic politics and that leak prevention therefore is not meant to be effective, except for a few important cases.

show abstract

Section: "By Virtue Of Their Unvarnished Nature Leaks Have Evolved Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Leaking and Bureaucratic Politics: Theoretical And Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Leaking and Bureaucratic Politics: Theoretical And Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Bureaucratic Politics and the Prevention of Leaks in the European Commission

Patz¹

2017

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, recent studies suggest that there seems to be a trend that leaks are induced not by higher echelons but increasingly coming from less senior officials. Technology and the ability of junior officials to more easily access and copy politically sensitive or even confidential information could be one of the drivers of this change (Reich and Barnoy 2016). Qualitative studies indicate, however, that political appointees leaks as much as regular civil servants (Alaimo 2016).…”

Section: Leaking and Bureaucratic Politics: Theoretical And Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Herrman 2017) A few spectacular megaleaks -from the Wikileaks' 'Cablegate' to a series of leaks on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) -have shifted global attention to matters of secrecy, transparency and the role of whistleblowing. However, leaks are a phenomenon that is much more mundane than what the mediatised attention to the exceptional nature of leaks such as ones by Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning suggests (Reich and Barnoy 2016). Notably, short after the recent US presidential election campaign, during which another mass leak by Wikileaks in the form of emails of the Democratic National Party dominated the news, the new Trump administration was quickly faced with, and complained about, a series of 'regular' political leaks (Hermann 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bureaucratic politics and the prevention of leaks in the European Commission

Patz¹

2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The European Commission, much like other executives and public administrations in Western Democracies, is frequently faced with leaks. Even though executive leaders often criticize this practice as unwanted breach of confidentiality and secrecy, research has shown that leak prevention is usually not taken seriously beyond public complaints. This paper analyses the phenomenon of leaking in the European Commission and the efforts the Commission makes to prevent leaks from its own ranks. It finds that leaking and leak prevention are regularly discussed at the highest level of the Commission. However, a survey with leak recipients suggest that leaks seem so widely distributed and frequent at various stages of internal decision-making that the existing prevention efforts seem ineffective. Analysing the rules and practices of leak prevention, the paper shows that, while there are anti-leak rules in place, there have been very few cases in which Commission leakers have been administratively sanctioned. The explanation for these observations builds on the argument that leaking is part of regular bureaucratic politics and that leak prevention therefore is not meant to be effective, except for a few important cases.

show abstract

Whistleblowing: The Concept Behind a Process

Salvo

2020

Digital Whistleblowing Platforms in Journalism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Anatomy of Leaking in the Age of Megaleaks

Cited by 17 publications

References 15 publications

Bureaucratic Politics and the Prevention of Leaks in the European Commission

Bureaucratic Politics and the Prevention of Leaks in the European Commission

Bureaucratic politics and the prevention of leaks in the European Commission

Whistleblowing: The Concept Behind a Process

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About