‘A real free press for the first time in history’: Wikileaks editor speaks out in London | Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog Julian Assange, editor of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, has criticised mainstream media for not making proper use of “primary resources” and claimed that the site has created “a real free press (…) for the first time in history”. Speaking at the Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School at City University London on Friday, Assange accused the media of failing to consult important evidence in its reporting of a 2007 US Air Force strike that killed two Reuters news service employees and several Iraqi civilians The attack became infamous after a video of the event was leaked through WikiLeaks, entitled Collateral Murder. The footage was recorded by one of two Apache helicopters involved in the attack. Showing an alleged copy of the US Military’s 2007 rules of engagement hosted on WikiLeaks, Assange said: “We had the raw ingredients you needed to decide right there. Why didn’t they use them? Last week, Private First Class Bradley E. Image courtesy of Cirt on Wikimedia Commons
Julian Assange and the Wikileaks agenda at George Brock Wikileaks founder Julian Assange came to the Centre for Investigative Journalism weekend school at City University last Friday to speak to a public audience. Assange is clearly making many more of these appearances in what might be called the Phase Two of the Wikileaks story. Julian Assange In Phase One, Assange barely gave any interviews at all and was secretive about himself and his organisation. Phase Two began when Wikileaks had put more than a million documents into the public domain which organisations and governments had never intended to release and when the US government arrested one of Wikileaks alleged leakers in the American military. Here’s a summary of what he said in opening. But from the start, Wikileaks saw itself in quite a different perspective from mainstream media, or from all other news media. He indirectly justified Wikileaks refusal to discuss its personnel, operations or security methods by saying that he has a “duty” to maintain “institutional integrity”.
Wikileaks plans to release files about deadly U.S. airstrike on Wikileaks.org plans to release as soon as this week documents related to a U.S. airstrike that killed Afghan civilians last year and plans to release combat footage of the incident this summer, the founder of the whistleblower site said in an interview Monday. Julian Assange said the documents pertain to an attack near the Afghan village of Garani, which killed scores of civilians in May 2009 In April, Wikileaks released video footage of a U.S. Apache helicopter attack in Iraq that killed several civilians, including two employees of the Reuters news service. The release catapulted Wikileaks into global headlines and sparked debate over a site that aims to uncover government and corporate secrets. Assange said Wikileaks does not try to identify sources. "We don't verify sources," Assange said. Wikileaks has nonetheless secured three American lawyers, pro bono, to help Manning, 22, who is being held in Kuwait for allegedly leaking classified videos and documents to the whistleblower site.
Swedish Pirate Bay to Host New Wikileaks Servers The Pirate Party will host several new WikiLeaks servers. This was agreed during Julian Assange’s visit to Stockholm last weekend, and the Pirate Party is happy to announce that everything has been finalized. The contribution of WikiLeaks is tremendously important to the entire world, says Rick Falkvinge, leader of the Pirate Party in Sweden. We desire to contribute to any effort that increases transparency and accountability of power in the world. Last week, the Pirate Party challenged the other Swedish parties to assist WikiLeaks in its democratic effort. The Pirate Party will provide bandwidth and hosting to WikiLeaks free of charge as part of its political mission, the press release stated. "This is one of our signatures. WikiLeaks have been under constant threat of being sabotaged by corrupt or abusive organisations trying to conceal the truth from the public. "We welcome the help provided by the Pirate Party. Support free media by signing up to Flattr: #