Don’t prosecute Wikileaks, say Australian editors
Wikileaks is part of the media and deserves the same right to disclose information, Australia’s leading editors have said in a letter to the government organised by The Walkley Foundation.
The letter follows comments from Prime Minister Julia Gillard that Wikileaks – headed by the Australian Julian Assange – questioning the legality of its actions.
Today’s letter – signed by TV news directors and the editors of just about every major Australian metro newspaper – says:
“We, as editors and news directors of major media organisations, believe the reaction of the US and Australian governments to date has been deeply troubling. We will strongly resist any attempts to make the publication of these or similar documents illegal. Any such action would impact not only on WikiLeaks, but every media organisation in the world that aims to inform the public about decisions made on their behalf. WikiLeaks, just four years old, is part of the media and deserves our support.”
The letter concludes: “It is the media’s duty to responsibly report such material if it comes into their possession. To aggressively attempt to shut WikiLeaks down, to threaten to prosecute those who publish official leaks, and to pressure companies to cease doing commercial business with WikiLeaks, is a serious threat to democracy, which relies on a free and fearless press.”
Link: The letter in full (pdf)
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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So they should. They’ve been selling their papers by republishing a lot of the WL content. There’s not much difference between trad press and WikiLeaks – it’s all about the editorial judgement of whether to publish leaked information or not. NYT is famous for being a maverick on that front, it’s just that they had the badge of ‘media’ to protect the individuals behind those judgements. Assange has been abandoned by our democratically elected leaders for pursuing the truth behind their governance. Lets hope the press continues to support his right to publish this information – for their own sake and the voting public’s.
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The PDF isn’t showing up – the MEAA website says the page can’t be found.
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Hi Fiona – link now sorted.
Cheers,
Tim
Agreed!
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Agreed!
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