With the November 2014 hack of Sony media files now behind us, much more information has come to light about how it happened and who did it. Glenn Greenwald paints a picture that is much different than the one that the mass media is telling us. Greenwald reports that claims that North Korea was the hacker originated with a senior New York Times reporter, who made these claims with no solid evidence. Given the structure of the corporate media empire, the Times reporter was able to remain anonymous, and within a day other corporate media outlets ran similar stories, blaming North Korea. Greenwald quoted Marc Rogers: “There is NOTHING here that directly implicates the North Koreans, the evidence is flimsy and speculative at best” (emphasis in the original).
An alternative view is that the hacking was the work of a disgruntled Sony employee, as it occurred after a number of employees received pink slips.
The accepted corporate version of the story remains that North Korea was the responsible party, a frame reinforced by President Obama attributing blame to North Korea, in press conferences. Greenwald summarized, “The overwhelming narrative disseminated by the U.S. media was clear: North Korea was responsible for the hack, because the [U.S.] government said it was,” concluding that this “reflexive embrace of government claims” is “journalistically inexcusable” and “truly dangerous.”
Source: Glenn Greenwald, “North Korea/Sony Story Shows How Eagerly U.S. Media Still Regurgitate Government Claims,” The Intercept, January 1, 2015, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/01/north-koreasony-story-shows-eager-u-s-media-still-regurgitate-government-claims/.
Student Researcher: Michael Brannon (Sonoma State University)
Faculty Evaluator: Peter Phillips (Sonoma State University)