Wikileaks is in the news again.

Last Week, Julian Assange threw a hissy fit, and made all the remaining files available freely via his site. Unlike the last time, the cables ‘outed’ this time did not censor the information to hide the identity of people involved. These include political activists, spies, informants, environmentalists, essentially sources of all types. This has, possibly, put the lives of thousands – especially those in totalitarian regimes – at risk.

In a piece that I wrote for the DNA I had suggested that One reads wikileaks As gossip. Nice, juicy gossip. Read WikiLeaks, smirk, and move on. For me Julian Assange was a self righteous, self appointed guardian of political morality (an oxymoron like no other), and he would do anything to bring the edifices crumbling down. And, the best way to do that is to create & spread distrust in all existing systems and relationships.

Tortuous Convolvulus is one of the most fascinating comic book characters. He appears in Asterix and the Roman Agent. Tortuous Convolvulus is a troublemaker par excellence — he just has to walk past two people to get them to start fighting. He causes distrust, strife and fights wherever he steps foot. He is the ultimate anarchist – who revels in the discord that he is able to create. He is used by Caesar to create divisions in Asterix’ village — till common sense, shared values and a wee bit of magic potion saves the village.

Julian Assange, the Australian who is on the United States’s ‘most hated’ list — is a modern day Tortuous Convolvulus. While on the face of it WikiLeaks — the organisation that he directs — has the stated aim of creating ‘open governments’ in the long run, in the short run WikiLeaks has become the ultimate tool of creating distrust and discord.

Every Publication & Government has condemned the redacted leaks. In particular The Guardian, New York Times, El Pais, Der Spiegel and Le Monde – which were the partners for the original wikileaks put out a statement dissociating themselves from this set of leaks.

“We deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted state department cables, which may put sources at risk,” the organisations said in a joint statement.”

So, given all this hue and cry on privacy and risk – you would expect the world’s best selling Newspaper to show some rectitude in naming names.

 

And, then ToI– goes on to name the girl friend. I suppose putting stuff in quotes and attributing it to someone else saves them from libel… It also upholds their reputation of having a tabloid soul in a broadsheet’s body.

I wonder if they will do a story on a media magnate who is rumored to personally train and groom slightly over teen contestants for an allegedly leading event .. or one about a leading media organisation that is supposed to take money to create favorable stories.

I could talk about media and ethics – but wait there is a pink unicorn outside my window, and i am off to have a conversation with it …

(no. i dont’ particularly care about Yedurappa or his ‘girlfriend’ – but i do believe that stories like this should not be put out without verification).