Brian Knappenberger, Digital Disobedience, and Free Press in the 21st Century
Information is potent. The digital revolution has accelerated its global spread, elevating digital platforms over traditional print media across the globe. As these platforms become primary news sources for the vast majority, they have faced pressures from influential political actors aiming to mould stories in the public interest in their favour. Crucially, this creates concerns about the reliability of easily accessible information and threatens the principles of a free press – a cornerstone to modern democracy.
Brian Knappenberger explores this in his 2017 documentary Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press. Prior to Nobody Speak, Knappenberger took an interest in alternative, often illegal, methods of accessing information and exposing wrongdoing. We Are Legion: The Story of Hacktivists (2012) depicts the rise of Anonymous, the “hacktivist” movement known for its online trolling and cyberattacks on major institutions such as the Church of Scientology and corporations such as MasterCard and Sony, among others.
The contention around Anonymous intrigues Knappenberger. He meticulously documents the timeline of Anonymous’ ‘Operations,’ inviting a debate on the ethics of their methods and motives. In Egypt and Tunisia, Anonymous played a crucial role in providing internet access to citizens during periods of severe political censorship and unrest. Knappenberger shows through Anonymous the impact technology and digital disobedience can have in real life politics.
A recurring theme in his work, The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014) devotes itself to the intersection of technology, communication, and access to information. Like Anonymous, Aaron Swartz was an advocate for the free flow of information. (In)famously, Swartz sought to achieve this by leaking thousands of academic and legal documents from JSTOR and PACER. Unlike We Are Legion, The Internet’s Own Boy provides an intimate portrayal of Swartz’s life. The narrative feels personal, told through the perspective of his friends and family, as well as scholars who deeply value his contributions to the digital landscape. Swartz sadly passed away aged 26, shortly after federal charges were brought against him by the US government for unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, among others.
These two films offer a fitting prelude to Nobody Speak. Unlike the narratives seen in his earlier films, Knappenberger explores the broader theme of a “free, independent press” by weaving together three distinct yet interconnected stories.
Beginning with a seemingly “newsbait” celebrity media trial, Knappenberger outlines the legal claim between Terry Bollea, more commonly known by his WWE persona Hulk Hogan, against Gawker Media, an online tabloid known for their outlandish celebrity publications. Gawker had published a sex tape of Bollea, and Bollea sued both the company and individual reporters for over $100million. A clash between Gawker’s right to free speech against Bollea’s right to privacy ensued.
Knappenberger stresses over the particulars of the case, intersplicing public court recordings, news footage, and interviews with Gawker and the lawyers instructed. Unsurprisingly, research and preparation is at the heart of Knappenberger’s creative process. After thoroughly grasping the crux of the matter, a “landscape of spontaneity” is available to him, enabling quick amendments or narrative turns to be possible should unseen events arise.
It is revealed that a multi-billionaire entrepreneur named Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early outside investor of Facebook, had been secretly funding Bollea’s legal costs. Ultimately, Bollea won, bankrupting Gawker. Whilst Gawker’s content may be labelled crude, provocative, and unworthy of journalistic protection, Knappenberger points to an assault on free media, orchestrated by a wealthy and influential minority.
Abruptly, Gawker’s story fades into the background, as Knappenberger shifts focus to the concealed acquisition of the Las Vegas Review Journal by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. As before, Knappenberger’s concern lies in the lack of transparency regarding media ownership. He illustrates how susceptible journalism is in the digital age, leaving publications little choice than to be surrendered by media moguls with potentially hidden agendas.
The Review Journal employees wanted to uncover and publish who was behind the purchase. Knappenberger tells a David and Goliath story. The motivation for including this case story, with its sole focus on the reporters investigating who they work for, is clear: Knappenberger shows how the start of Adelson’s secret reign caused the eventual breakdown of a team who put journalistic integrity at the forefront of their work. Knappenberger urges people to question power in the media and be cautious of secret dealings which threaten the integrity of the institution.
Rounding off the film, Knappenberger turns to the wider political landscape and antagonism towards the media voiced by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. Reflecting on the day Trump was elected President, Knappenberger noted that the film was not the same film it was the day before – something was different now. Trump has persistently approached media institutions with contempt, calling the press scum and inciting violence towards journalists and publications. In doing so, Knappenberger says Trump has created a wave of hostility against the press, encouraging the public to distrust criticism of him and others and instead to denounce the mainstream institutions as fake news.
Knappenberger does not shy away from genuine criticisms of the press, however. He acknowledges press coverage has been lazy and hasn’t properly served its duties of holding people in power to account, instead “trading in soft ball stories for access to power and celebrity”, which has eroded people’s trust in them. Nobody Speak acts as a wake up call to those publishers, warning of the gradual chipping away of core democracy in the wake of “Trumpamania”, as described by Hulk Hogan himself.
Information, technology, and the turbulent politics of today are commonalities found in Knappenberger’s work. From digital disobedience as an act of rebellion to demonstrating how a free democracy cannot exist without open access to information, Knappenberger recognises how the cyber age has radically transformed today’s political landscape. Nobody Speak encourages us to critically examine the information we consume in the wake of unstable political times.
The old model of journalism is dead, says Knappenberger, and a new model is yet to be born. In the interim, a power vacuum is created. Throughout Nobody Speak, as well as We Are Legion and The Internet’s Own Boy, Knappenberger believes that for democracy to survive, a free media must prevail in this struggle.
Written by Jenson Davenport
You can follow Jenson Davenport on Letterboxd: /jensoon.
