There has long been some degree of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange apologism in the journalism world, especially among our friends on the left. You’d think the political tradition that consistently rails against rape culture and thinks that rape accusers should always be believed would have some qualms about supporting a man wanted for rape, but hey, politics is weird.
The most common defense I’ve heard for WikiLeaks’ obtaining and publishing illegally obtained information basically amounts to “But Journalism.” One HuffPo op-ed, for example, declared “long live WikiLeaks and Julian Assange” because before them, “the public [was] uninformed because of inadequate journalism.” Famed war journalist John Pilger praised the “new and fearless form of investigative journalism that threatens both the war-makers and their apologists.” The Atlantic declared that “Wikileaks is a powerful new way for reporters and human rights advocates to leverage global information technology systems to break the heavy veil of government and corporate secrecy that is slowly suffocating the American press.”
There is no doubt that the democratic process cannot function without journalists who publicize information the powerful would have kept secret. Whatever damaging and occasionally lethalinformation WikiLeaks publicized in the beginning, it has undoubtedly done some good and spread information that needed to be spread. For the full article click here
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