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 The document’s authenticity was never determined, and news about WikiLeaks quickly superseded the leak itself.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 /
What will the revolution of the 2000’s be? Governments have already been de-stabilized in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Who says that the protests won’t continue over to the United States? Protests in other countries happened because the systems were outdated and corruption was suspected. This is certainly true in the U.S., where the government’s inefficiency is being blamed on outdated technology. Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget admitted that the gap between the public and private sectors results in “billions of dollars in waste, slow and inadequate customer service and a lack of transparency about how dollars are spent,” this “lack of transparency” is exactly what Assange is fighting against. (3) WikiLeaks forces the United States government to think about the extreme secrecy it operates under and whether this is the best for its citizens. Without Assange the “lack of transparency” would only grow, making him a hero.
Edward Snowden. This is a name that will be in the history books for ages. He will be branded a traitor or a whistleblower depending on where you look. Many Americans feel that Edward Snowden is a traitor who sold the United States’ secrets aiming to harm the nation. Others believe that he was simply a citizen of the United States who exercised his right to expose the government for their unconstitutional actions. It is important to not only know the two sides to the argument of friend or foe, but to also know the facts as well. My goal in this paper is to present the facts without bias and to adequately portray the two sides of the argument.
The ethical issues involving Edward Snowden’s case encompass key issues of morality. Snowden’s actions are to be interpreted as right or wrong based on the circumstances and personal reasoning. The preceding interpretation is this case in every ethical quandary. Once these issues are assimilated to the affected parties we begin to understand the larger picture of morality and ethical reasoning in Snowden’s case.
“Words of Fire,” by Anthony Collings, details the lives of different journalists in regards to free press and covering potentially dangerous stories. Anthony Collings is a former CNN reporter who shifted his focus from reporting to telling the story of journalists who have come under fire in a power struggle between government and free press. Collings puts free press into a spectrum, on one side there is the United States, where the press is largely free, and on the other side there are places like North Korea or China where press is largely restricted by the government. Collings does not focus on these extremes, but rather the places in the middle where there is an ongoing struggle between state power.
Edward Snowden and the PRISM leak: On June 6, 2013, The Guardian broke the news that the U.S. National Security
It is not surprising that the person responsible for the largest leak of classified intelligence in the history of the United States would be a very controversial figure. This essay will explore the life of Chelsea Manning, the classified material that was made public as a result of her leaks, and her eventual arrest and imprisonment. Upon close analysis, it can be shown that while Manning leaked classified material in an improper manner, the American people have a
The Internet is one of the most widespread ways to exchange data, and a website called WikiLeaks has received a great amount of attention from the knowledge it releases. The details they give are known to be confidential and provide society with an inside view on what is really happening behind of the closed doors of the federal government. The site is based on the “belief that a more transparent government will bring better consequences for all, and that leaking information has an inherent tendency toward greater justice” (Singer 465). WikiLeaks gives its readers a way to honestly know all the significant facts and records that are purposefully kept away from
In “Assessing the First Amendment as a Defense for WikiLeaks and Other Publishers of Previously Undisclosed Government Information,” Janelle Allen explores whether WikiLeaks should be entitled to the same protections that traditional media outlets are given when they publish classified information. In her work, she goes over two possible avenues that the government can take if it wants to silence WikiLeaks; the two options are: prior restraint (censorship) and the Espionage Act. Allen, in order to bolster her argument that WikiLeaks should be entitled to the same protections given to traditional media outlets, goes over cases that fall under what is known as the Daily Mail Principle. This principle allows publications to publish material
Firstly, the “war on terror” had reduced the humanitarian concerns down, and the foreign policy. Furthermore, media coverage had become more deferential and constrained: therefore, reducing the chances of media influencing policy. The “war on terror” most importantly provided journalists with a guide in which they could understand global events and policy makers with the ability to justify a more aggressive foreign policy plan. At last, the “war on terror” had constructed an ideological bond between journalist and policy makers which created stronger media management. Techniques developed to display coverage of certain issues over others to frame stories that support official
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the
Wikileaks published many enlightening information to the people resulting in hatred from the government. The fear of people knowing the truth and causing controversies scared the government. Although, wikileaks was supporting the first amendment with freedom of press and speech, the government tried to control it. Wikileaks gave the world the power of first amendment and that power scared the government, and caused a small chaos.
In early 2013 a man by the name of Edward Joseph Snowden began leaking classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents to media outlets, which in turn ended up in public ears. These documents, mainly involving intelligence Snowden acquired while working as an NSA contractor, are mostly related to global surveillance programs run by the NSA. This has raised multiple ethical issues ranging from national security, information privacy and the ethics behind whistleblowing in general. The reach and impact of these leaks have gone global and have put in question the very government that protects us as well as the extent of the public’s rights on privacy. Various foreign
Nowadays journalists have the responsibility to report facts as accurately, objectively, and disinterestedly as is humanly possible. ‘’The, honest, self-disciplined, well-trained reporter seeks to be a propagandist for nothing but the truth’’ (Casey, 1944b).
As the Hollywood plot unveiled, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, took sides with Edward Snowden to help him find asylum. Assange and his team have started negotiations with Icelandic and Ecuadorian governments for the political asylum that Snowden pursues . Julian Assange himself lives under political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since mid-2012, explained that Snowden had contacted them for
In this paper, the topic being analyzed is the Panama Papers. The Panama Papers are being described as the biggest collection of documents ever to be leaked. This paper will discover, present, and judge the facts of what had happened and then through the Ethical