Media and Ethics

Wikileaks
Terrorist or liberator?

By:-
Group 5
Agenda
• Impact on geo-politics: Arab Spring

• Wikileaks exposÉs

• Origin and History

• Laws regarding official papers

• Past precedents: Pentagon Papers case

• Attacks on wikileaks/assange

• Questions raised by wikileaks

• Conclusion
 IMpact on geo-politics:
catalyst to arab spring

• Arab spring started with the Tunisian revolution on Dec

18, 2010
Is it the
• Impact since then:
extremist, or
• Overthrow of dictators in Egypt and Tunisia
the media,
• Civil war in Libya
that blow
• Uprisings in Bahrain, Syria, Yemen
things up.
• Protests in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco
• Major catalyst has been the leak of US diplomatic cables
on Nov 28, 2010 by Wikileaks
• Detailed corruption, personal excesses, and duplicity of
the ruling regimes
US government views

“I would argue it is closer to being a high-tech terrorist than the Pentagon papers.“

- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden

“A high-tech terrorist", and "he has done enormous damage to our country. I think
he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law".

- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

"Information terrorism, which leads to people getting killed, is terrorism, and

Julian Assange is engaged in terrorism. He should be treated as an enemy
combatant.“

- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich

 IMpact on geo-politics:
catalyst to arab spring

Any work of
art that can be
understood is
the product
of journalism.
 Other exposÉs in Wikileaks
Diplomatic Cable dump
A free press
• India:
can be good
- UPA government used cash to win trust vote in
or bad, but,
Parliament in 2008 over Indo-US nuclear deal
most
- Satish Sharma's aide Nachiketa Kapur showed a US
certainly, employee two chests containing money to be used to
without bribe MPs
freedom a - WikiLeaks reveal India repeatedly sought US
press will approval – Iran - IAEA, Postings
never be - Possibility of Indian names in Swiss bank
anything but disclosure to WikiLeaks
bad. - India cables on 26/11, tensions with Pakistan and
more – 5087 records from American Embassy
- India asks US support against China
 Other exposÉs in Wikileaks
Diplomatic Cable dump

United Kingdom:
News is
- The Ministry of Defence decided to influence the
something
official inquiry into the Iraq War in order to "protect US
someone interests“
wants - Day made the admission during a meetings between
suppressed. Tauscher and senior British officials attending the
Everything London P5 Conference
else is just • Afghanistan
advertising. - Corruption in the Afghan government
- The local authorities of United Arab Emirates
discovered that one of Afghanistan’s two vice presidents
was carrying $52 million in cash
 Other exposÉs in Wikileaks
Diplomatic Cable dump

• USA
The freedom - A highly secret effort to remove highly enriched
of the press uranium from a Pakistani research reactor
works in such - Pakistan refused to schedule a visit by American
a way that technical experts
there is not • China
much - Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon
freedom from North Korea‘
it. - China flexed its muscles using US treasuries
- Pointed out censored Chinese Olympics age fraud
data
- Released Chinese government state TV
censorship keywords list
 Origin
• Registered on 4th October 2006. Published its first document in
December 2006.
• Founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians
and start-up company technologists, from the US, Taiwan,
Journalism is Europe, Australia and South Africa
literature in a
• Represented in public by Julian Assange. Rest of the people are
anonymous.
hurry.
 SHI TAO
The incident:
• Shi Tao was a journalist from China.
o 2004: Notice of the Chinese government
o Asked all news media to not report anything
Early to bed,
regarding the so-called "June 4th event”
early to rise,
The ‘offence’:
work like hell, • Sent a brief to an external website via his personal
and advertise. Yahoo! account
‘Yahoo!’:
• Personal information from Yahoo! Hong kong office
• Shi Tao was detained on November 24, 2004
Court Verdict:
• Suspended lawyer’s license
• In 2005, the Court sentenced him to 10 years prison
 GOALS
• Not-for-profit media organization
The job of • Electronic drop box
the press is to  Exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet
bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East
encourage  Assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal
debate, not to unethical behavior in their governments and
corporations
supply the
 Ensure that whistleblowers and journalists are not
public with jailed for emailing sensitive or classified documents
information.
• “In the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights says that Congress
is to make no such law abridging the freedom of the press. It
is to take the rights of the press outside the rights of the law
because those rights are superior to the law because in fact
they create the law” – Julian Assange
 Past precedent: PENtagon
papers case

• History of US involvement in Vietnam between 1945-67

The difference
• Daniel Ellsberg, RAND analyst, sent study to NY Times
between
• NY Times started publishing excerpts from June 1971
literature and
• Major revelations:
journalism is
that journalism
• Secret US bombings of Cambodia, Laos and N.
Vietnam
is unreadable
and literature is
• Kennedy’s plan to overthrow Ngo Diem
not read. • Johnson’s plan to bomb N. Vietnam
• Widespread deception of public by successive US
administrations
• Major turning point in the war of public opinion; tide
turning against US involvement in Vietnam
 Past precedent: PENtagon
papers case – LEGAL CASE

• NY Times vs. United States case went up to Supreme

Court
It's all
• SCOTUS overturned temporary injunction on
storytelling, “burden of proof” technicality
you know. • Lack of clarity on the overall judicial stance
That's what • “Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose
journalism is deception in government. And paramount among the
responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part
all about.
of the government from deceiving the people and sending
them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign
shot and shell.”
—Justice Black
• Daniel Ellsberg case declared mistrial and dismissed
 Laws OF the land
Country Law Counter-Position
America Espionage Act of 1917 Press protected by the First
Amedment.
Trafficking in stolen Information here is not a
government property physical property
Journalism is
India Official Secrets Act, Does not violate as source of
in fact history
1926 information is not disclosed
on the run.
Australia No Particular law. Dec 17,2010: Wikileaks cleared
Supports USA against and no offences found against it
Assange
Sweden Grundlag – on the Law only applies to websites or
freedom of print publications that possess a
information; it also special publishing license
guarantees the granting them constitutional
anonymity of sources in protection
digital media
 AtTACKS on ASSANGE

• Sweden investigation on sexual assault charges since

August 2010
Journalism is • European Arrest Warrant for extradition to Sweden
not just a • Assange arrested in UK, not out on bail fighting
cause, it's extradition proceedings
also a wacky • Denied Time Man of Year 2010 in spite of reigning high
in public opinion polls
profession.
• Obama administration has asked Britain, Germany,
Australia, and other allies to consider criminal charges
against Julian Assange for his Afghan war leaks.
 AtTACKS on WIKILEAKS

• Denial of Service (DDOS) attack to shutdown service

• Amazon stopped hosting on Joe Biden’s behest

If journalism • Paypal, Visa and Mastercard accounts closed to cut down
is good, it is
funding
controversial,
by its nature. • Swissbank Post Finance froze assets

• US Government instructed govt. employees and students

in public colleges to refrain from accessing/linking to
cables
The Criticisms
• Classic tradeoff – Transparency vs. Privacy
• Extending the argument – what if your life weren’t private
• Cost to life and money:
• Covert operations: What if covert operations were revealed
half way to execution? Lives could be put in threat
• Responsible Free Press:
• Julian was indiscriminate in documents released
• Public may not benefit from maximal transparency
• Information asymmetry to enemies (or opposition) leading
to detriment to the public body itself
• Accountability:
• Is anonymity credible?
• If direct linkage between loss to public and media expose is
established, whom is media answerable to, under what
laws?
The bigger picture
• What does Wikileaks teach us?
• Power of the fourth estate, is it as powerful as the
government?
• Multiplier effect of the media
• Speed of information flow in the world today
• Media unlike governments: Crossing boundaries
• Commonality of purpose between “liberal media”
• Democratic power vs power of the media
• Where do we go from here?
• Privacy laws – more stringent or protecting the
whistleblower?
• Media power in less democratic (oppressive?) states
Conclusion
• There are no originals any more, only infinite copies.

• Information really wants to be free.

• Information travels fast. Legal or not

• Crowd-sourcing works.

• Governments everywhere are mostly the same. People

everywhere are the same.

• Wars of perception are as important as the wars of armies

• An uncensorable and untraceable depository for the truth is

mostly good, but for whom?

• The anti social media (Julian Assange) cannot beat the social
media (Mark Zuckerberg)!
Thank You!