Research Question: How has the media played a role in promoting the efforts made by various hacktivist groups who reveal sensitive information about big corporations and large governmental institutions? How has this image of hacktivist groups changed the way people think about socially motivated cyber attacks?
Thesis moment: The American media has continuously been degrading and questioning the efforts made by various hackers and hacktivist groups. I would be looking into the language which is used by popular media sources and various governmental representatives in the United States. I would be analyzing the reason behind such degrading comments and how big corporations have played a major role in changing the way hacktivist groups are perceived in this country after the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Roadmap:
a) Ethics of Hacktivist groups: I would first be looking into the various corporations/ institutions most of the hacktivist groups target and how these corporations/ institutions respond to such attacks. These corporations/ institutions often resort to portraying these hackers as criminals in front of the people in order to reduce the effect of their accusations.
b) Media discourse on hacktivism: The media discourse on hacktivism has transformed a lot over the past couple of years more so after the attacks on 9/11. This has mainly been due to the increased pressure by big corporations who provide business to most of the bigger media sources (through advertisements).
I would also be looking into the various ways we can reconcile the differences between hacktivist groups and governmental bodies and achieve a smoother transition of information and more transparency from the government.
The Rhetoric of Activism 
Your research question is fascinating! I’m interested in learning more about how you intend to research the “language which is used by popular media sources” — will you be looking at different news channel reports directly, or reading scholarly papers on the linguistic word selection in news broadcasts? Would you also look into the tone and manner in which news about hacktivists are delivered?
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When you discuss how the media addresses the release of information about big corporations and large governmental institutions by hacktivist groups, do you find that the media response changes based on the corporation/institution targeted, or the political interests represented by those corporations/institutions? Is there a distinction between hacktivist actions targeting more liberal-leaning versus conservative-leaning groups?
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