This week a year ago, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange first met with editors from the New York Times, the Guardian and Spiegel magazine to discuss how to investigate and publish hundreds of thousands of classified documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The question at the heart of the meeting was how to reconcile the public’s right to know and the right to privacy of the people mentioned in the published logs by WikiLeaks?

Eric Schmitt, senior writer and Washington correspondent for the New York Times, gave an insider perspective on this crucial meeting at Deutsche Welle’s recent Global Media Forum.  He says at the time, Mr Assange had not really thought through what impact the release would have for the individuals on the ground – especially in Afghanistan and Iraq, and had not made any plans to censor individual names.

So what responsibilities does the media have when it comes to protecting sources, and protecting people who may be put a risk as a result of leaked information?

Have a listen to the panel discussion between Dr. Agnès Callamard, Executive Director of the NGO ARTICLE 19, Eric Schmitt from the New York Times, Professor Beate Rudolf, Director of the German Institute for Human Rights and Jan Michael Ihl, spokesperson for Open Leaks.

You can also leave your comments within the timeline of the SoundCloud audio file.

 

W11 – Leaks, WikiLeaks, whistleblower – New challenges for human rights? by dwgmf