Debate On WikiLeaks' Impact: Freedom Of Speech And Press Essay.

Origin and base of WikiLeaks

Question:

Discuss about the Popular Culture to Political Economy.

The present debate is based on the impact of wiki leaks on the society. It has been alleged by many countries that web site is harmful to the national security of the national security of any country. However, this debate will make one thing clear that the web site is not harmful to the society; rather it establishes the frame work of freedom of speech and freedom of press. It has been written under the constitution that it is the right of the citizen to know about the policies of the government. It is not enough to know about the internal decisions of government, even the international policies are also important to know. Wiki leaks have given this opportunity to the citizen so that they came across the policies of the government. This debate will clarify the facts.

The part that has been chosen in this case is to debate on the topic that whether wiki leaks is dangerous for the society or not. Before getting into the main points, the base and the origin of wiki leaks are required to be mentioned. Wiki leaks are an international organisation, popular for publishing of secret news and the nature of its sources are anonymous (Christensen 2014). The website regarding the wiki leaks was initiated in 2006 and director and founder of the organisation is Julian Assange. Julian Assnge was an Australian activist who is specialised in internet protocols (Wahl-Jorgensen 2014).

The present debate is relevant for certain reasons. Since the inception of the organisation, much secret news was being published and people became aware of the government policies regarding many international issues. Over ten million documents have been published since the incorporation of the organisation and many countries including USA had banned the site. It is to be discussed in this case to come into a conclusion whether wiki leaks is dangerous for the society or it has certain positive impacts on the society in general.

Wiki leaks become popular in the year 2010, when the web site has released certain documents regarding the collateral murder footage that had been occurred in the year 2007 in Baghdad and many Iraqi journalists were murdered (Johnson 2015). It has also been released that the Iraqi insurgents were responsible for the murder that amounts 109,032 deaths and the airstrike attacks in Baghdad has also been published. The web site has made the whole world shocked by publishing the effects of the diplomatic cables of US state department and the detrimental effect of the same. In the year 2011, the web sites had published secret files regarding the Guantanamo Bay detention camp (Logue and Clegg 2015).

Relevance of the debate

It has been alleged that the wiki leaks are not revealed their sources and due to this it becomes problematic for the states to understand the main source of the news and the sources are not possible to be traced out. The key argument in this debate is to discuss the efficacy of the web sites and the positive impact of the web sites on the society. It has been observed that there are certain allegations has been made as against the web site and it has also been stated that the web site is intended to hamper the secrets of the country and become a potential threat for the whole nation. In this debate it will also be stated about the role of the web sites regarding the establishment of freedom of speech for the journalists (Hinduja and Patchin 2014). It has been stated that many countries had banned the site and actions were taken against the director of the web sites. However, all these steps should be treated as arbitrary in nature as the constitution of every State ensure the doctrine of freedom of speech.

It has been stated under the constitution that transparency is more important than privacy. The government policy is enough to causes difficulties if they are acting arbitrarily. It is the duty of the press to deliver information to the society relating to the governmental policies. Wiki leaks have been doing this job since 2006.

It has been stated by many of the sources that the activities of wiki leaks are illegal in nature and the web sites are also alleged to hack the official web sites of a State and release all the secret documents regarding the same. It has been observed in 2016 that the web site has released certain documents regarding the Democratic National Committee in USA and the outcome of the same became detrimental for the electoral member of the party, Hillary Clinton (Sheehan 2013). It has been alleged that Russia is provoking the web site to hack the secret documents and instigate the activities of the web site tremendously.

It is important to understand the scope and purpose of the site to understand the goal of the web site. It has been stated by the Director of the web site, Julian Assange that the web site wanted to reveal certain important issues and information to the notice of the public in general. It has also been stated that the web site will also reveal the original material of source to the public. Therefore, a notion about the freedom of speech has been discussed in this case. Similar voice was raised by Julian Assange in the Colbert Report and he told to the reporter that the idea of freedom of speech has been engraved under the several aspects of government and laws. The Bill of Rights of USA also supports the idea of freedom of press. It is the main objective of the press to bring the attention of the public regarding certain current and important issues so that the government will not become a potential threat to the society.

Positive impact of WikiLeaks on society

There are certain grounds that will reveal the positive impacts of the web sites in the society of America and the society of the Universe as well. It has been reported by many of the news portals that wiki leaks have supported the idea of democracy and it is to be stated that the web site has provided valuable information regarding the State’s political affairs and clarify the role of the government regarding certain important issues. Many of the organisations think that the web site is a potential threat to the national security, but the web site breaks all the fears regarding the moral prohibition of secrecy.

It is a fact that the people are chosen representative to run the country properly. However, if they could not perform their duty properly, it will affect the future of the country. In case of their administrative failure, people have the chance to understand the effect. But in case of the weapon dealings and war crimes, people should not get any clue regarding the same though these are also create detrimental effect on the state. Wiki leaks helped to provide the information that flawed the concept of democracy.

In case of every democracy, active participation of the citizen is required and it is the right of the citizen to update them with the available information regarding the government and policies. It is to be stated that the potential threat regarding the government policies are not created by wiki leaks. It helps to understand the role of the government regarding all the political issues. It has also been stated that the site is helping the citizen to understand the real part of the government regarding serious international issues and the citizen got the chance to know about those matters.

Therefore, it can be observed that the information revealed by the wiki leaks are important in nature and the citizen are able to know about the government policies regarding the international security and certain matters that are related to the national security (Castells 2015). It has been noticed that the administrative failure of the government can be lead towards the less developed nation and the security policy of the governments are also responsible for the state deterioration. An attempt has been made to black the character of the web site and many States have banned the web site and charged Julian Assange for violating the norms relating to national security. However, certain points are to be kept in mind that are:

Allegations against WikiLeaks

In a democratic society, it is important to provide information to the citizens and the constitution of every state has given the citizens a right to know the government policies. It has also been stated that in case the government has tried to hide something from the citizen, the same could become one of the potential risks for the interest of the society (Chander and Lê 2014). Wiki leaks help the society from this aspect. It has also been stated that the security information that have been revealed by the web site did not intended to affect the government, but to establish the transparency in between government and the citizen. It has also been stated that the information regarding the governmental policies have given the citizen to disseminate the facts and know about the real nature of the government in general.

There is a proverb in English that “truth is never bad”. In this case, it is a fact that wiki leaks is intend to publish relevant security documents regarding he state and the effective government policies regarding the matters like terrorism, war and corruptions have been pointed out by the site and it facilitate the concept of democracy. In case of democracy, freedom of press plays an important role (Ardia 2013). The strategies taken by the web site in this regard allows the people of United States to know about the government policies regarding many diplomatic issues and intention of the government to avoid the war crimes and fake encounter.

Conclusion:

Therefore, from the above mentioned debate, it can be cleared that the base of the wiki leaks stands to improve the democracy and to establish the base of freedom of press. Wiki leaks have critically described the steps taken by the government of USA and it is to be kept in mind that critical components are essential for effective governance. Therefore, it can be said that the web site has created a good implication on the society by establishing the seed of democracy.

Reference:

Ardia, D.S., 2013. Freedom of speech, defamation, and injunctions.

Bauman, S., 2015. Responding to Cyberbullying. Cyberbullying, pp.93-108.

Castells, M., 2015. Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the Internet age. John Wiley & Sons.

Chander, A. and Lê, U.P., 2014. Free speech.

Christensen, C., 2014. WikiLeaks| WikiLeaks: From Popular Culture to Political Economy~ Introduction. International Journal of Communication, 8, p.5.

Hinduja, S. and Patchin, J.W., 2014. Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Corwin Press.

Johnson, C.N., 2015. Book Review: Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the Future of Communications, Journalism, and Society.

Kowalski, R.M. and Limber, S.P., 2013. Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(1), pp.S13-S20.

Logue, D.M. and Clegg, S.R., 2015. Wikileaks and The News of the World: The political circuitry of labeling. Journal of Management Inquiry, 24(4), pp.394-404.

Sheehan, K.B., 2013. Controversies in contemporary advertising. Sage Publications.

Slonje, R., Smith, P.K. and FriséN, A., 2013. The nature of cyberbullying, and strategies for prevention. Computers in human behavior, 29(1), pp.26-32.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., 2014. WikiLeaks| is WikiLeaks Challenging the Paradigm of Journalism? Boundary Work and beyond. International Journal of Communication, 8, p.12.