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.
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