At National conference for media reform – Boston April 8th
Panel: Wikileaks, Journalism and Modern-Day Muckraking
Glenn Greenwald: talking about how some journalists were actually livid and furious over release of cables. A journalist was outraged that the gov did not do a better job of ‘concealing’ this info from him. I did lots of shows on Wikileaks and in every single show the journalist and the opposing person were saying the same thing. The idea that a journalist thought exactly as the powers that be is surprising to me. Wikileaks discloses the deceitful things that happen in our names and I am surprised that journalists were angry about the disclosure and not about what the powers that be are doing.
There would be no greater threat to freedom of speech in Us than prosecution of Wikileaks. Journalists were in fact leading the chorus on demanding prosecution. Bob Woodward is beloved by them even though he also reveals secrets – but they are secrets that the powers that be want to come out. So what is it about wikileaks that infuriated them? The real source of hostility is difference between deferential to political power and being adversarial to it. US established journalism is identified as part of the establishment – so they find attacks against gov as attacks against them personally because they are part of them.
Even in instances where journalists reveal secrets, there is a deferential time – they knew about issues beforehand but were asked to keep it secret. When they knew about secret prisons, one journalist was asked to not mention names of certain countries that housed them and she complied. Some call it ‘patriotic’ media. But it is not about demonstrating fidelity to gov officials but rather about holding governments accountable. Their allegiance should be to truth.
Importance of Wikileaks: the regime of secrecy allows abuse of powers. Obama admin embraced this secrecy that it inherited from Bush admin. Most documents Wikileaks released are in fact banal and inconsequential. Every one has been stamped secret though – because gov always hides things they do as a matter of habit. What really is at stake is internet freedom and keeping citizens informed of what their government is doing in their names. There is no way to stop what Wikileaks began but what the Obama admin now is doing is scare whistle blowers and the case of Manning shows that govs are saying ‘our powers are unlimited and any future people who want to expose it, look at Bradley Manning and that is what we can do to you.’ Whistle-blowing is the one important way by which we learn what our governments are doing.