Openlinks

So here we go.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/10/openleaks-wikileaks-rival_n_794939.html#

This here is a link to a story abou another website that will open up soon to replace/supplant Wikileaks. It is created and run by former members of the Wikileaks team who left that organization due to "the autocratic" nature of Julian Assange. They have also chosen to differentiate themselves from Wikileaks by no longer being a publishing website but a liaison between whistleblowers and the press. This is where I begin to seriously doubt the efficacy of this organization. I agree with them that Assange is not a great leader for this type of movement, but going so far as to cease publication I feel is the wrong way to go.

I understand that this move insulates Openleaks from the kinds of threats that Wikileaks is undergoing currently, but putting the power of releasing these documents solely on the international media seems blind to the lack of accountability that the media has demonstrated over the years. The success of Wikileaks, most notably of the past three major leaks that have come out this year, is due to the manner in which they distribute the data. It is published openly, to allow access to anyone who can reach their website. The press was given copies of the leaks before the official release so that summaries an notable points of interest could be found and given to the populace who doesn't have the time to read documents that a thousands of pages long. If Openleaks becomes the new standard I fear that without the open publishing the public will remain largely unknowing as to the content of the leaks. We will only get what the media talks about, and that will depend heavily on election cycles, lobbying efforts and proposed legislation. Making these leaks part of the political theater cheapens the information itself and makes it a bargaining chip rather than an action of solidarity with those conscientious members of corporations and governments that can't abide watching terrible things happen in their name.

This is not to say that the position of liaison between whistleblowers and the media is not needed. I feel that it is. However, this position, in my mind, creates additional tension for whistleblowers who have already taken enormous risks in attaining and releasing the information. Now whislteblowers would have to hope that the information gets out, rather than know that their work will be seen and be accesible. As an added question I wonder if the members of Openleaks will hold the media organization they leak information to accountable to that information, to make sure that it does indeed get posted, and does get spoken about. I see no mention of this in the story above.

I support Openleaks idea of a more democratic organization, but I must admit part of me thinks that perhaps an autocrat, a leader, someone to bear the weight of the operation might actually be necessary to maintain the mission statement of the organization. Considering the immense weight of international pressure by nation states of the Global North on these leaks and the tactics used against Assange I wonder if a democratically configured organization would be able to maintain the same levels of stalwart-ness in the face of the pressure and threats that Assange has managed. Without the brick wall that is Assange's conviction to his cause I fear that the purpose of these organizations may fail at protecting and aiding the people who have risked so much to let the world know what happens behind closed doors, or in the streets.

As I write this last sentence I immediately think that had the international media had the stones to report what was happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also, to be fair, the access, then the leaks would not have been necessary. But they are necessary, the media doesn't tell us what's going on, we were not given the full numbers of civilian deaths, only the government's "estimations" which due to the leaks were found out to be lies. I also wonder about the nature of the citizen journalist, the bloggers, the photojournalists, those of us with a mind for this work, but without the credentials, the people who really strive to find "the truth" and let it be known, not for a paycheck, but because people need to be aware that bad things happen everyday, and most of them happen in our name. We are complicit to thousands of crimes in the past decade that we as US citizens aren't even aware of. In the information age, where the internet has allowed for the potential to democratize information, allowing incredible access, and publication possibilities to millions, if not billions of people. Openleaks stand to undemocratize that space in the name of accountability, but not in the spirit.