WIKILEAKS AND THE NOBEL PRIZE

The case of Assange could not have been thrown into greater relief than by that of the nobel prize winner, wu zhao bo. Apart from locking him up, China is making no pretence of using government power to intimidate academics, close down websites, and keep the news of bo’s prize in Oslo away from its own people. Does America really want to be associated though, as it is being, with that kind of attack on anyone, rather than embracing much of the spirit of what Wikileaks has done, and why the internet is a chance for significant world freedoms? If it is the job of some aspects of the intelligence services, military, or the administration, to protect information, and work in the corridors of diplomacy, it is surely the duty of journalists to find and reveal the truth. Of course there are limits, and one is The News of the World case, for instance, and mobile phone tapping, when personal privacy seems to have been invaded, for reasons that have little to do with the public interest. Although any journalist, and probably any intelligence service, knows it can be a fine line. DCD