In a press conference today in London, Julian Assange spoke about how he had hoped that the United States would end its "witch hunt" against Wikileaks and release the U.S. soldier, Bradley Manning, that initially leaked the classified information to Wikileaks. News of the press conference was reported in The Huffington Post early on Sunday 8/19/2012 in an article titled "Julian Assange: U.S. Must End 'Witch Hunt' Against Wikileaks". Assange is currently living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he is living in asylum. If he leaves the embassy, which only takes up one floor of the actual building, he is at risk for being arrested by London police and extradited to Sweden. He is wanted for questioning in Sweden for supposedly committing sexual assault in 2010 in the Wikileaks office. The press conference was giving from the entrance door to the embassy to ensure that Assange was not arrested by police.
This article is important not only because it gives an update on a tension filled fight over the person who runs Wikileaks, but also it brings into question the idea of ethical standards for journalists. Yes, journalists have a right to keep their sources confidential and to report what information they view as being important and helpful to society, but this was not necessarily the case with Wikileaks. Wikileaks published highly sensitive information that disrupted governments, peace treaties, and put people lives at risk because the journalist thought the right thing to do was to publish top secret information on an ongoing basis. As a reader this makes one think about the journalistic protocols.
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