Thursday, February 2, 2017

The Battle over WikiLeaks

In Dec. 2010, blogger Glenn Greenwald (a WikiLeaks supporter) explained journalistic independence to a CNN correspondent. WikiLeaks website is here. This leaked video (with nearly 16 million YouTube views) shows the killing of employees of the Reuters news agency and wounding of children by a US attack helicopter in Iraq.


In August 2012, I visited the Ecuadoran embassy in London after WikiLeaks' founder had taken refuge inside; I was there days after the British government threatened to invade the embassy, a serious breach of international law.

Following in WikiLeaks footsteps is a new U.S.-based group, ExposeFacts.org.  (Full disclosure: I am an advisor).

On the 2016 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, the United States has fallen to 41st out of 180 countries -- largely because of "the government's war on whistleblowers who leak information about its surveillance activities, spying and foreign operation . . ."

The man who inspired Edward Snowden to become a whistleblower was a previously brave NSA officer named Thomas Drake, who suffered consequences of a prosecution and now survives by working in an Apple store.

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