Porkins Policy Radio episode 97 The Decline of Leaking: From Chelsea Manning to Reality Winner

Tom Secker and Robbie Martin join me for a very wide ranging discussion on everything from Reality Winner to Dennis Rodman. Tom and I start off the conversation by talking about the Wikileaks Twitter account tweeting about our issue on The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. We talk about the obvious divide right now between Assange and Wikileaks not just in terms of Twitter, but in terms of their media strategy. The three of us then dive into the bizarre case of NSA leaker Reality Winner. We theorize as to whether she is a true leaker, or a truly disgruntled employee. We discuss the possibility that Winner was set up to leak, and if this is really a move by the Trump administration to ward off future potential leakers. Robbie and Tom also touch on the strange behavior of The Intercept and how they mismanaged this entire story and their lack of protection of Reality Winner.

In the second hour we ponder the question as to whether Reality Winner represents a bookend to the celebrity culture of leakers and whistleblowers. We take a close look at Chelsea Manning and her recent media interviews. The three of us talk about the media’s obsession with Manning as a trans celebrity, and the ways in which they have sexualized and fetishized her since her release from prison. We discuss how the media has largely ignored or forgotten the true reasons for why she was imprisoned in the first place: leaking thousands of government documents. We talk about the notion that Bradley Manning and the actions associated with him are now dead and therefore are no longer a topic of discussion among the media. We round out the conversation by talking about Dennis Rodman’s most recent trip to North Korea. We talk about the possibility that Rodman is being used as either a back-channel or some form of intermediary between Kim Jong-Un and US intelligence. Robbie, Tom, and I also touch on the cryptocurrency Potcoin which has sponsored Rodman’s trip to the Hermit Kingdom.