Since the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Dec. 7, I have been wrestling with the idea of Wikileaks. My first reaction when I heard of the website was, “These idiots are going to get people killed!” Then I took a step back and came to my senses. Wikileaks is an organization that publishes large amounts of confidential government documents over the Internet. Since its start, Wikileaks has released documents from the war in Afghanistan, military tactics, techniques and procedures, over 250,000 diplomatic cables, and much more. This upset quite a few people and governments. Their secrets are out.
There should be no secrets and people should know the truth.  The LA Times states, “No democracy can or should fight a war without the consent of its people, and that consent is only meaningful if it is predicated on real information.” In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a journalist for the New York Times, released the “Pentagon Papers.” The documents revealed poor government decisions made during the Vietnam War to U.S. citizens. Wikileaks helps do the same thing on a much larger scale. The organization gives people real and raw information. Julian Assange and his staff are making people aware by exposing the undisclosed. This website can keep governments all over the world honest and held accountable for their actions.
The unauthorized release of government documents is prohibited by the Espionage Act of 1917, but is this any reason to completely forget about The First Amendment? What about our freedom of speech? What about our freedom of press? The foundation of our very own country gives us the right to express our knowledge and opinions; why should we not exercise that right? The United States is known as the “melting pot” where people of all religions, ethnicities, and genders have the freedom to be who they are and say what they want. I imagine that Wikileaks is hard for our government to accept under its own laws, but in this moment, the United States should show its strength. America should stand firmly by its Constitution. If we are as “free” as we say, we should let it show.
Not only has Wikileaks changed the responsibility of governments, it has revolutionized journalism. It is now possible for massive amounts of information to be released in a short amount of time. With the click of a button, hundreds of thousands of documents can be exposed to the entire world. Sources no longer have to withhold information in fear of the consequences. Journalism has played a huge role in providing people with information for a very long time. Technology has improved and accelerated this process. Governments can no longer be confident that their mistakes will not be exposed. The idea that secrets travel has a whole new meaning. With this kind of technology and freedom, communication and trust can be more frequent all over the world.
Henry Anatole Grunwald, an Austrian journalist, said, “Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”
Wikileaks speaks, and allows others to speak. The website may be new and uncomfortable, but it is ground-breaking. Assange and his team release the truth, exercise their rights, and take news to a whole new level.

cheykoop@mesastate.edu