After today's discussion in class, I learned something new about the whole Wikileaks affair. The professor said that major media outlets actually convinced Assange to blackout certain names and dates. This interests me because judged on what we have learned so far, it seems the media loves to expose the government's inner workings.
But the major question I think Wikileaks raises is how much information is too much? The fact is- aside from Hilliary Clinton asking her aides to spy on other nations at the UN-the leaks showed that by and large, the State Department was doing its job. Its diplomats were dutifully reporting about the countries they were stationed at, and by leaking the files, nothing too crazy was revealed. All it did was to harm the US and other countries by showing sensitive information. This information was not harmful to the public or something that we needed to know. In this case, I don't think Wikileaks really had a right to reveal the information and I don't think the media should have published the material. Obviously, this is naive because Assange has a vendetta against the US government and the media will publish anything that generates headlines.
But, while I do think that the media should never be afraid to publish something, when the government is actually doing its job, there is no need to impede it.
Although in this case there was little or no sensitive information leaked, I think the government reacted the way they did, because they want to set an example that, no matter what the information, whether highly sensitive or basically unimportant, there are consequences of leaking that information. This would really be aimed at deterring people from leaking the sensitive, dangerous information.
ReplyDeleteSo you're right that this time it wasn't the biggest issue. I think that now, he's trying to get attention from the world, and he's doing it successfully. He wants people to know that he has a goal and will not rest until he takes down the US government. He has now set the presiedent that he will post almost everything as a warning to the government to watch what they do because if something sketchy happens, soon the world will know about it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with David. Although knowledge within the government is crucial or has little significance, the risk the country is put at if leaked is at risk. The media is willing to publish that in which will seek attention, not being aware of the danger they may cause. I do not believe that the citizens do not need to know everything, mostly for our own safety.
ReplyDeleteExactly, and especially when it comes to this type of information, we don't actually know how damaging it is to the government. Of course, everything is a matter of judgment, where the media must decide if the information they have is going to be harmful to the government or not. But I agree that citizens don't need to know all information that the government does, but there should be a balance between trust in our government and honest inquiry.
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