WikiLeaks follow-up

I’m feeling very strongly about this issue. While I don’t think I’m sympathetic to all of Assange’s “motives,” when was the last time we saw journalism with a backbone? I admire anyone who does their job the way it ought to be done.

We are quickly headed for an era when journalists will be expected not to ruffle any feathers more than they will be expected to publish the truth.

It is understandable why governments would want diplomatic conversations to be private. I have no problem with that. But it’s their job to keep them private. Not Julian Assange’s job, damn it.

The U.S. government needs to look into why it did such a pathetic job of keeping its diplomatic cables private. That’s their job. It’s the job of journalists, by contrast, to publish pretty much everything they get their hands on.

To moralize against Assange, or (possibly) to trump up sexual charges against him (we don’t know this yet, but it’s quite possible) is a disgraceful assault on the very concept of a free society. What should he have done differently? We seem to be persecuting someone for the crime of being a competent journalist, as far as I can tell.