Military Secrets vs. Freedom of Information: Should We Have to Choose?

First, take a look at this story, which appeared today in Foreign Policy:

This week marked the international coming-out party for a new media organization that could upend the sacred cows of traditional journalism. Wikileaks, an Internet-savvy investigative journalism outfit, released a video showing an American Apache helicopter open fire on a group of men, killing two Reuters employees, along with 10 other people, on July 12, 2007.

“There was no threat warranting a hail of 30mm [caliber gunfire] from above,” says Anthony Martinez, a former U.S. Army noncommissioned officer who has watched thousands of hours of aerial footage of Iraq.

Now watch the video:

[youtube 5rXPrfnU3G0&feature nolink]

The video was sensational, and it exploded online Monday — it’s since gotten more than 2 million views on YouTube and prompting a follow-up story by the New York Times.

Many viewers were undoubtedly encountering Wikileaks for the first time, though the organization was launched in December 2006. The site, which is funded by private donors and does not accept government or corporate funding, encourages would-be whistleblowers to upload incriminating material anonymously on its website. The small editorial staff verifies submitted documents, decrypts or translates them when necessary, and then publishes them in full — often with commentary.

This is not to imply that Wikileaks’ editors are merely passive distributors of their sources’ information. They cultivate and protect anonymous sources, verify submitted materials, add context, and promote important leaks… The whole story cost the organization about U.S. $50,000, according to Julian Assange, the site’s co-founder.

Assange describes Wikileaks as pioneering a revolutionary model for bringing previously hidden material to light. “The mainstream press is, per capita, not competitive with Wikileaks in terms of sourcing,” he says.

The writer, Jonathan Stray, who makes it clear that Wikileaks times its releases for “maximum political impact,” concludes:

… Wikileaks’ disregard for gag orders and their unabashed advocacy makes full-throated praise for the organization rare. Yet no journalist I’ve spoken to will speak ill of Wikileaks in private: Every reporter understands that Wikileaks is the thin end of the wedge. If they can’t run a dangerous story, no one can.

Be sure to read the entire article, then feel free to comment. Trust me: it’s not as cut-and-dried as it looks.