Why Wikileaks is Good for America

Via Wired

I agree. Wikileaks has perhaps unnecessarily made a mess with its latest reveals, but its existence is and will be important and valuable as an outlet where information of true significance that cannot appear directly in traditional media can be published.

The push to damage-control over the revelations is understandable but the disproportionate efforts to destroy the website and cut its funding are a reprehensible attack on media freedom. Traditional media should not be so eager in supporting the government in destroying an source of potentially vital information.

Speaking of Conspiracy Theories...

... maybe Walmart started the Iraq war, so they could make despicable Christmas commercials...

Bad Media Critic, Bad!

I know, I know. Where have I been all this time?

The truth is, as an observer of media, I've done a lousy job.

I don't watch TV ( I have a room antenna - no cable), I rarely have time to read newspapers. I mostly only look at magazines for the photography. Online I rarely read about current issues any more. Up until a few days I didn't even have a working computer and I don't like the internet on my phone.

But let's put that aside for now. It may be quite late, but I still have time to look back on a semester of media analysis and come to certain conclusions, make summaries and comparisons.

Let's try blogging at least once a day. I may still make up for some of the lost time.

Wish me luck!

Shoot the Messenger

I've been (somewhat superficially I must admit) following the fallout surrounding the Wikileaks publication of confidential US documents and I'm not as much surprised as I am disappointed by how mainstream media are dealing with the issue.

I mean, I understand the need for governments to keep certain secrets but that doesn't mean that all secrecy is justified. What is in the interest of government is not always in the interest of the people or the country. It is the job of journalists to uncover secrets and confront the government if need be. The Pentagon Papers revealed things successive governments tried to hide. Watergate tapes were something the administration did not want the public to hear. And yet they were important to see and hear. Muckraking reporters have always resorted to various methods to come by such information and these methods are not always commendable, but it's a stretch to liken them to espionage, let alone treason and terrorism.

But the mainstream news media has been downgraded to uncritically reporting official sentiment, without analysis and examining all sides of a story. Sure revealing government secrets has its legal repercussions for those involved, but that doesn't mean that we should disregard what the secrets revealed about the government and pretend nothing has happened.

Analysis in the media has never went beyond whether the documents are embarrassing or damaging for the US to an actual analysis of what American policy is like and whether there is something that needs to be rectified.

On the flip-side, my critique of those who revealed the secrets is that they squandered the opportunity for real effect by revealing information that mostly has entertainment value. It is not an enormous surprise that secret services gather information on foreign officials or that the US administration has rather unfavorable views of certain countries and their leaders. With such privileged access, I'm sure the Wikileaks source night have made more of a difference with some of the difficult issues the US is dealing with. It appears that even the muckrakers have gone soft.