The website WikiLeaks has continued its project of posting huge numbers of secret government documents, generating a lot of news and a lot of controversy. There is debate over whether the website is damaging national security for the United States, whether it is informing people of information they really need to know, embarrassing lots of people in the diplomatic corps by making what was thought to be private comments public, or merely confirming through documents what lots of people already knew. (The one thing we know is that it isn’t treason. Why? The person behind WikiLeaks is Julien Assange, who is Australian, not American.) At any rate, without too much further comment, here are a number of links to articles about the controversy:
- Politics Daily – WikiLeaks, Secret Cables and the Downside of America’s Security Mania
A look at the problem of telling the difference between real secrets and things people find embarrassing and would like to keep secret. A key issue. - The UK Guardian’s Coverage of WikiLeaks
Journalism prof Brian Steffen says Guardian’s coverage much more “stark” than that from New York Times. - NY Times Answers Questions on its WikiLeaks coverage
Interesting to hear a news organization explain why it does what it does. Among the questions: “How dare you?” “Are the documents authentic? And how do we know that?” “Is/should the Times be ‘partnering’ with WikiLeaks?” “How can you ethically publish something that has been stolen?” “How can you potentially jeopardize lives?” Good questions that deserve good answers. - David Frum – A conservative look at impact of WikiLeaks
Instead of going “good/bad” in principle, Frum looks at what we’ve learned about the situation in Iran from the WikeLeaks documents. - WikiLeaks stories leaked via Twitter before WikiLeaks could release them
Another great example of Gaurav Mishra’s point that we are reaching the point where all news of consequence will first break by way of social media.