PerfectMarket

Traditional Media Plays Central Role in WikiLeaks Release of ‘Afghan War Diary’

WikiLeaks has again inserted itself into the heart of the discussion about the future of journalism in releasing this lastest trove of U.S. military documents on Afghanistan.

WikiLeaks first shared its "Afghan War Diary" documents with traditional papers Der Speigel, The New York Times, and Guardian. Advance collaboration with influential media outlets demonstrate that, even as WikiLeaks attempts to transform the very nature of investigative journalism, for now at least, it is open to high-level collaboration and validation from traditional media.

As James Fallows of the Atlantic writes, “Wikileaks could have simply posted the raw info even without the news organizations' help. At first glance this is a very sophisticated illustration of how newly evolving media continually change the way we get information, but don't totally replace existing systems. The collaboration of three of the world's leading "traditional" news brands makes a difference in the way this news is received.”

Dave Gilson of Mother Jones shares Fallow’s sentiments on the nature of this collaboration.

“It's an interesting decision for many reasons, not least of which is the possibility that WikiLeaks may have found the perfect way to balance its remarkable ability to obtain sensitive information with its paradoxically opaque M.O.”

However, Gilson also notes that the nature of the reports, highly technical and extremely dry, made the partnership both pragmatic and necessary. Wikileaks gets the scoop, but traditional newspapers are still needed to analyze the facts and weave a compelling narrative.

As Alexis Madrigal points out in the Atlantic, Wikileaks actions may have turned the page, forever, on the way media operates.

“The rogue, rather mysterious website provided the raw data; the newspapers provided the context, corroboration, analysis, and distribution.”

In the days and months to come, we’ll have a clearer picture of how Wikileaks will impact journalism and mainstream media. Certainly, today’s events underscore, yet again, the shift in power to Internet news. However, Wikileaks has also demonstrated that traditional media still has an essential part to play.

— Lee Glandorf

Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeGlandorf

Tags: guardian, wikileaks, nyu, lee glandorf, perfect market, julian assange, afghan war diaries, der spiegel,