The recent leak of thousands of reports surrounding the war in Afghanistan has become the focus of much discussion over the past couple of weeks. Not only the validity of these reports and the ramifications the information could have for the government, but also how technology’s role in assisting with the release of information will impact journalism.
In late July, more than 76,000 classified reports were release via WikiLeaks, an international organization that “publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of otherwise unavailable documents while preserving the anonymity of sources.” It appears that if consistently credible, the site could become a go-to source for journalists looking to mine information for stories.
A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses how websites such as these can impact traditional media. Jonathan Zittrain, a law and computer science professor at Harvard says, “I see WikiLeaks as just a new intermediary, not something that gets rid of intermediaries. So the function it’s serving if any is not something alone that should strike fear into traditional newspaper editors.” He goes on to say, “The people at WikiLeaks have learned that if they want to get a message out, they should hand it to the mainstream media under embargo. WikiLeaks is wholsaling it to multiple papers at once, so it’s not an example of WikiLeaks just supplanting what the media does.”
In the case of the war reports, WikiLeaks sought to proactively work with traditional media outlets to disseminate the news. The founder of the company held a press conference where he announced the availability of the information and helped journalists navigate their way through the reports. In other instances WikiLeaks also worked with publications to give them a sneak peek of the information via a protected password to the site. Is this type of collaboration a new model for journalism?
While there are still many legal questions surrounding whether WikiLeaks illegally obtain classified information, the website certainly is causing a stir among media experts. It will be interesting to see how site continues to work with journalists and media outlets to provide classified information. I believe if the site can continue to prove its information is consistently credible and protect its sources, it can certainly be a game changer within the media landscape.
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Melissa Liton