(in) Security - Academic Conferences Limited

Saara Jantunen and Aki-Mauri Huhtinen
The nominalization can be compared to a clause with a Participant +Process configuration:
Process description: America has failed to protect cyberspace.
When Process forms into a Participant, the "event has become an object and the language is no longer
congruent with our experience" (Butt, 2003: 75).
The upcoming analysis will further analyze the evaluative patterns of the data. The action descriptions
can be categorized according to their evaluative function. Martin & White (2005) argue there are three
semantic categories for expressing attitude. These express positive or negative ways of feeling (Attitude),
our attitudes towards people and how they behave (Judgement), and our evaluations of the worth of
things and phenomena around us (Appreciation):
Table 3: Types of attitude
Attitude Affect Judgement Appreciation
Variables un/happiness, in/security,
dis/satisfaction
Social esteem: normality,
capacity, tenacity
Behavior wail, trust, condemn
Social sanction: veracity,
propriety
perform, fail, depend
deceive, abide
reaction, composition,
valuation
bore, help
Whereas the securitization theory discussed in the previous section does not provide tools for the
structural analysis of the securitizing move, the functional language theory offers a method for
determining the representation of 'self' or 'the other' in discourse. This is the key to analyzing threat
discourse. The following chapter is dedicated to two analyzes: the first analysis deals with the properties
of the securitization narrative, and the second analysis discusses the linguistic patterns and semantic
dimension of cyber discourse.
4. Analysis: Cyber, censorship and securitization
This chapter focuses on two aspects of language and discourse. First, a brief analysis of the WikiLeaks
discussion will discuss the narrative patterns of cyber/information security. This will act as an introduction
to threat/cyber discourse and provide examples of securitizing moves. After that, the structural and
evaluative properties of threat discourse are approached through the analysis of cyber discourse.
4.1 Threat discourse as a narrative: WikiLeaks in the media
WikiLeaks gained wide international publicity when it published video material leaked by someone in the
U.S. military. These videos were recorded during helicopter operations in Iraq. The one that caused most
controversy, published by WikiLeaks by the name Collateral Murder, shows the shooting of a group of
men and later civilians who stopped to help the wounded and killed, who later turned out to be journalists
and photographers. The disproportionate use of force (among other munitions, Hellfire missiles were
employed) and the arrogant and mocking comments of the crew caused public outrage. The comments
"Come on, let us shoot!" and "Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards" can be heard on the video.
WikiLeaks kept publishing controversial material, and in November 2010 it released a massive number of
diplomatic cables. WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, gave a number of selected journalists access to
the material. He said that the massive amount of information was too much for them to research, so
journalists, as professionals, would be the right people to research the material, remove any details that
would endanger for example civilian collaborators, and to report their analysis in the media (Wikirebels,
2010).
The publishing immediately enraged a number of politicians in the U.S. and elsewhere. Assange's
actions were quickly not only condemned, but referred to as acts of 'terror'. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton stated that the actions of WikiLeaks "tear at the fabric" of responsible government, and
are an attack on not only America, but on international community. Tom Flanagan, a Canadian former
presidential advisor, suggested President Obama should have Assange assassinated (Collins, 2010).
Sarah Palin demanded WikiLeaks should be hunted like al-Qaeda (Beckford, 2010). Politicians were
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