Publishing Confidential Documents in the Media

Katie Flowers
kf163911@ohio.edu

Leaking Confidential Documents

What happens when the media leaks confidential government or military documents? Depending on the case there could be many responses and reactions, but the unifying theme is that the U.S. government is a vocal opponent. This of course is an understandable reaction. In many leaked document cases, the government tries to fight the publication of the reports. Yet as journalists, we need to figure out whether these reports need to be seen by the public.

Edward Snowden, Pfc. Bradley E. Manning and Julian Assange all have had their names and faces run through the media for their contributions to confidential documents. Are they pioneers for knowledge or threats to national security? They have been labeled as both.

There is a tough balance between reporting the truth and the harm that could come from publishing national secrets. And it's a balance journalists need to find. The public does deserve to know what its government is doing, but at the same time protect information that would truly be a threat to national security if it were shared. 

But let's first take a look where it all started.

The Pentagon Papers

When former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers in 1971, it was revolutionary. Nothing quite like this had happened in the journalism world before. By choosing to publish the report, The New York Times set a new precedent in the journalism world. Some hailed Ellsberg as a hero, while others called him a traitor. 

In this video posted on YouTube by the Newseum, the narrator gives a background on the papers and Ellsberg and others involved in the publishing of the Pentagon Papers speak about why it was important to share the report with the public. The video also discusses the difficult decision making process The New York Times went under when they decided whether to publish the report or not. 

Once The New York Times was temporarily gagged by the government, Ellsberg took the Pentagon Papers took the report to other newspapers. The media believed so strongly in presenting these classified documents that after one was shut down, another would pick it up. It is interesting to look back and see how the media banded together against the government trying to forcefully get them to quit.

Without the Ellsberg and the publishing of the Pentagon Papers, there would be no Snowden, Manning or Assange. They all would have been severely prosecuted if Ellsberg hadn't cleared the Supreme Court. The United States public would not have nearly the same amount of access to classified documents as is present today.

Where We Are Today

Today, leaked documents are still making their way into the media. In this August article from the New York Daily News, the reporter writes about a recent leak that was published by the news site Intercept. The leak contains "documents [that] provide a starling insight into names and figures collected for the government's terrorist screening systems, while revealing that 680,000 people were listed on the government's Terrorist Screening Database at the time of its 2013 publishing."

Because the media keeps sharing classified documents. there seems to be a consensus that these are documents the public needs to see. While everyone may not agree with this, I think it's important to share this information as long as it doesn't present a major threat to the nation's safety.