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Wikileaks : A Not For Profit Media Organization

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INTRODUCTION WikiLeaks established in 2006 is a not-for-profit media organization. As per their website, their goal is “to bring important news and information to the public. We provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information to our journalists. WikiLeaks has worked to report on and publish important information. We also develop and adapt technologies to support these activities. The broader principles on which our work is based are the defense of freedom of speech and media publishing, the improvement of our common historical record and the support of the rights of all people to create new history. We derive these principles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” With an aim to bring …show more content…

We don’t hoard our information; we make the original documents available with our news stories. Readers can verify the truth of what we have reported themselves. We believe the world’s media should work together as much as possible to bring stories to a broad international readership.” In December, 2006, WikiLeaks posted its first document: a “secret decision,” signed by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a Somali rebel leader for the Islamic Courts Union that had been culled from traffic passing through the Tor network to China. The document called for the execution of government officials by hiring criminals” as hit men. The document’s authenticity was never determined, and news about WikiLeaks quickly superseded the leak itself. Soon with their publication of classified documents regarding Afghan War, U.S. diplomatic cables, Collateral Murder Video, Iraq war logs etc. WikiLeaks gained a worldwide audience for themselves. The world politics was thrown into turmoil with role of U.S. government coming into question over various ethical issues involving their role in War against terrorism, its view on its allies. Figure 1How WikiLeaks Functions Wikileaks publishing of these classified documents has led the world asking the question about where does the jurisdiction of a journalist ends regarding publishing sensitive information and how it affects the person /

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