Wikileaks: Good or Bad

WikiLeaks; a website, a non-profit organisation, a source of information, a frontier media outlet.   It is like nothing the world has ever seen.   Since its release in December 2006, Wikileaks has been the backdrop of universal condemnation, posing the question, is Wikileaks a good thing? The answer is yes.   Although coverage of the website has been dominated by criticism and scrutiny, it has not yet managed to overshadow what a strong and prominent force Wikileaks is in providing information for the public to use to create a more broadly informed opinion.

Wikileaks has so far managed to establish itself as an influential organisation, publishing documents including war logs, private and controversial conversations between politicians and images that are in some cases highly classified, while keeping the whistle-blowers anonymous and away from public glare.   These give the public and other media makers access to the information they deserve but that they would not usually see or be privy to.   Much of the information released has caused embarrassment for governments across the world, forcing them to be more democratic towards their people and more accountable and careful in dealings with other countries.   This embarrassing information has caused politicians in particular to dislike Wikileaks and its Australian founder Julian Assange.   Former US President Bill Clinton recently said “the founder of Wikileaks is a criminal and will not escape US law,” while others suggested that Assange and his sources should be executed and Wikileaks declared a terrorist organisation. A little too far to call for the execution of someone don’t you think? All of those threats and many more have abounded because people in positions of power were embarrassed about being exposed for the actions they and their country are taking behind closed doors- and sometimes contrary to what they had led their people to believe.  

Wikileaks as a media outlet must be supported.   The main reason why...