WikiLeaks – A Danger or Vital provider of Information
To be able to answer the question related to WikiLeaks whether it is A Danger or Vital provider of information, the concepts behind freedom of information, media, and journalism and information awareness have to be clearly understood by all. Due to the fact that each one of these terms relate to each other and play a very important role in our culture. The Australian Government ComLaw states Freedom of Information as “An Act to give to members of the public rights of access to official documents of the Government of the Commonwealth and of its agencies.” (Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing, 2012). On this context the word “media” refers to the way information is made available to the public. (Media, 2012). Moreover it is said that “journalism” is a way of telling a story or better yet letting people know how things really occurred in a written form. (Niles, 2007). Therefore people that practice this style of writing work on areas related to the media and at times giving more significance to unimportant things such as (i.e., Lady Gaga dyes her hair) and by doing that important information is at times lost on all the clutter.
“Media is the nervous system of a democracy. If it’s not functioning well, the democracy can’t function.” (Cohen, n.d.).
Now days the access to information it is at your fingertips, is no longer the action of buying and reading a printed copy of a newspaper, magazine or even a book on a library with the introduction of the internet this act has been reducing the traditional ways of getting the information required. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) web site the percentage of visits made to read news online is around 5 per cent (OECD, 2009). With the internet traditional media has started to also provide web sites to reach more audience, this concept has opened the door to new ways of getting information across and web sites like...