Group questions

1. Many of our mass media outlets these days report only part of the story, and that ‘part’ is often very biased. Is Wikileaks filling the void of true journalism? Is it living up to journalism’s principles, http://www.concernedjournalists.org/what-are-elements-journalism? How are Wikileaks’ actions different from those of the major media outlets? Wikileaks received the cables (from sources unknown) and published them. The media outlets received them (from Wikileaks) and published them. Is this a double standard?

Explore some of these ideas. Read the above source, research journalism ethics, read some of the links about Wikileaks on the class delicious tag cloud. Formulate an answer to these questions and maybe make some new, related questions of your own.

2. The first website addresses the question of the importance of Wikileaks in the Arab uprisings. The two middle links are about the US government’s response to the Wikileaks release. The last link is about the content of the leaked diplomatic cables.

http://www.arabist.net/blog/2011/1/15/twitter-wikileaks-and-tunisia.html

http://www.arabist.net/blog/2010/12/7/an-update-on-sipa-and-cablegate.html

http://garysick.tumblr.com/post/2108412945/am-i-a-criminal
Gary Sick is a professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs

http://www.arabist.net/blog/2010/12/14/le-monde-releases-cables-on-us-egypt-relations-egyptian-mili.html

Discuss the role of Wikileaks in the Arab uprisings. Is its role exaggerated or did it truly play an instrumental role in sparking revolution?

Do the released cables accomplish the whistle-blowing goal of promoting transparency and positive change or do they serve to stoke Julian Assange’s ego?

3. The Guardian has a web-site from Jan. 28th with some really detailed info on the cables and the US reaction to them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jan/28/wikileaks-latest-developments

After reading this article and perhaps some other background sources of your choosing, consider the two arguments:
a. Wikileaks promotes transparency and openness in the practices of governments like the United States, exposing human rights violations and promoting a more democratic process.
b. By leaking sensitive, classified documents Wikileaks threatens national security; damages diplomatic relations; and endangers sources abroad.

4. Look at the group Anonymous and its attack on HB Gary, the technology security company.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HBGary
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29#Attack_on_HBGary_Federal
• http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/11/campaigns
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-us-bank-and-the-secret-plan-to-destroy-wikileaks-2215059.html
  

Read the above sources and any others of your choosing. Be prepared to report on Anonymous’ underlying philosophy, motivations, as well as their reasoning behind the attacks on HBGary. What do you think of Anonymous?