jf865310@ohio.edu
According to my MacBook's dictionary, a journalist is "a person who writes for newspapers or magazines or prepares news to be broadcast on radio or television." A definition that I, and many other people, believed to be accurate. We rely on journalists to supply information that we have rights to know, in regard to our government, safety and well-being. However, recent events in the world of news and reporting seem to indicate otherwise.
Cue WikiLeaks; Internet activist Julian Assange created this online, non-profit international organization solely for publishing secret information. The news leaks and classified media has created quite the controversy since the site's launch in 2006. Within a year after starting WikiLeaks published over one million documents. It's slogan is "We open governments." I think that "open" is an understatement. Assange's undertaking to expose the truth behind governments and not-so-public "public" information was an ambitious one. The question at hand that many people (especially journalists) are asking now is, "Isn't that our job?"
Michael Wolff, a writer for Newser.com, claims that "the WikiLeaks papers remake the journalism world." You can read the full article here. If triumphing over the world's best print journalism organizations is considered a form of renewal, than Wolff is correct. Sites like The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal didn't get the privilege of having a leak, while The Guardian did.
Assange's strategic choice of media outlets of which to leak his documents can be compared to a high school popularity contest. The most popular kids get the attention, and all of their peers sit back in envy. The peers are symbolic for the journalists who not only didn't, but couldn't, access the same one million plus classified documents that Julian Assange did.
Julian Assange is not alone. Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning also leaked classified details that ended in life-changing consequences. Snowden, now an American fugitive, resides in Russia after fleeing the country after disclosing private information on the United States and British government surveillance programs.
Manning leaked the largest set of documents to date known as the "Iraq War Logs." Some may see these three people as heros, exposing the truth to the public, or criminals going against their country. Regardless of their reputation, what stands out to me is their actual jobs: a computer specialist and a war veteran. Their professions are on a different end of the spectrum from that of a journalist. So why is it that they were able to find, confirm and succeed in releasing such important knowledge? Such a task is what journalists are for, right?
Apparently not. The clip below explains the significance in WikiLeaks receiving an honor for good journalism.
Video courtesy of YouTube.com
"WikiLeaks has given the public more scoops than most journalists can imagine: a truth-telling that has empowered people around the world." Until the time comes when journalists can fulfill their genuine duty to the public, it seems as though we can happy rely on WikiLeaks to do it for them.
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