Media Alliance warns of muzzling of Australian media over Wikileaks

Tim Burrowes

December 3, 2010 5:00

Journalists union The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has come to the defence of anonymous disclosure site Wikileaks.

In a statement this afternoon, the union accused Amazon, which withdrew hosting services from Wikileaks, of caving in to hysteria.

It follows the release by Wikileaks – which is led by the Australian Julian Assange – of a huge amount of diplomatic exchanges involving the US.

Federal secretary Chris Warren said: “Amazon’s decision is extremely disappointing. “We need to take a step back from the hysteria. It is not known whether WikiLeaks has broken any law. It has – via a free media – upheld the public’s right to know. ”

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.