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inside_the_wikileaks_revolution_by_stefania_maurizi [2020/07/11 13:02] – created editor119inside_the_wikileaks_revolution_by_stefania_maurizi [2020/07/12 12:51] (current) editor119
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 ====== Inside the WikiLeaks revolution, by Stefania Maurizi ====== ====== Inside the WikiLeaks revolution, by Stefania Maurizi ======
  
-Published in the book In defense of Julian Assange, edited by Margaret Ratner Kunstler and Tareq AliO/R Books, 2019 +**By Stefania Maurizi** 
 + 
 +**february 2019** 
 + 
 +//Published in [[https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/in-defense-of-julian-assange/In defense of Julian Assange, edited by Margaret Ratner Kunstler and Tariq Ali]] O/R Books, 2019//
  
  
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 The impact of WikiLeaks has been considerable. It pioneered a model so effective that it has been copied by many. It started a platform for the anonymous submission of secret or otherwise restricted documents, a concept that has since been adopted by almost all major media outlets. It also established cross-jurisdictional collaborative reporting, now a model for major organizations like the Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which published the Panama Papers. The impact of WikiLeaks has been considerable. It pioneered a model so effective that it has been copied by many. It started a platform for the anonymous submission of secret or otherwise restricted documents, a concept that has since been adopted by almost all major media outlets. It also established cross-jurisdictional collaborative reporting, now a model for major organizations like the Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which published the Panama Papers.
  
-The publication’s strategy has proved successful: the exiled islanders from the Chagos Archipelago, for example, have been using the US diplomacy cables disclosed by WikiLeaks in court to support their struggle to return to their homeland3. A German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, used the cables to support his case at the European Court of Human Rights against his extraordinary rendition4, while the Washington Post recently used the Hacking Team emails to shed light on the assassination of the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi (5). +The publication’s strategy has proved successful: the exiled islanders from the Chagos Archipelago, for example, have been using the US diplomacy cables disclosed by WikiLeaks in court to support their struggle to return to their homeland (3). A German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, used the cables to support his case at the European Court of Human Rights against his extraordinary rendition (4), while the Washington Post recently used the Hacking Team emails to shed light on the assassination of the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi (5). 
  
 Making millions of secret documents fully available to anyone is a very challenging operation. In fact, no other media partnerships have done so. The Consortium of Investigative Journalists has never made the full documents of its prominent scoops like the Panama Papers available to the public. Unfortunately, it must be admitted that on some occasions WikiLeaks has performed this task very poorly, publishing personal information which should have been redacted and has allowed critics to say that the organization just dumps stuff on the Internet. But it doesn’t. Making millions of secret documents fully available to anyone is a very challenging operation. In fact, no other media partnerships have done so. The Consortium of Investigative Journalists has never made the full documents of its prominent scoops like the Panama Papers available to the public. Unfortunately, it must be admitted that on some occasions WikiLeaks has performed this task very poorly, publishing personal information which should have been redacted and has allowed critics to say that the organization just dumps stuff on the Internet. But it doesn’t.
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 I remember the first time this smear surfaced prominently in the press. It was 2012. Assange appeared on his TV show, The World Tomorrow, and the London newspaper the Guardian fiercely attacked him for broadcasting it on the Russian state-owned TV channel, Russia Today—currently RT. In reality, the broadcasting license for The World Tomorrow was acquired by my newsgroup as well, which publishes la Repubblica and l’Espresso. In fact, we broadcasted the show. As far as I know, that program was not the product of any unique collaboration between WikiLeaks and RT. I remember the first time this smear surfaced prominently in the press. It was 2012. Assange appeared on his TV show, The World Tomorrow, and the London newspaper the Guardian fiercely attacked him for broadcasting it on the Russian state-owned TV channel, Russia Today—currently RT. In reality, the broadcasting license for The World Tomorrow was acquired by my newsgroup as well, which publishes la Repubblica and l’Espresso. In fact, we broadcasted the show. As far as I know, that program was not the product of any unique collaboration between WikiLeaks and RT.
  
-Nonetheless, it has been trumpeted endlessly in press reports as produced in direct cooperation with the Kremlin. It is true that Assange and his staff have appeared on RT many times, but I have only heard of one instance in which RT partnered with WikiLeaks in the publication of confidential files: The “Spy Files6”,  a leak consisting of the brochures of private companies selling surveillance technologies. When WikiLeaks collaborates with traditional media, the partners know each other and share the workload. +Nonetheless, it has been trumpeted endlessly in press reports as produced in direct cooperation with the Kremlin. It is true that Assange and his staff have appeared on RT many times, but I have only heard of one instance in which RT partnered with WikiLeaks in the publication of confidential files: The “Spy Files (6)”,  a leak consisting of the brochures of private companies selling surveillance technologies. When WikiLeaks collaborates with traditional media, the partners know each other and share the workload. 
  
 Though to my knowledge RT was a media partner of WikiLeaks’ just once, it is true that RT quickly jumps on whatever WikiLeaks publishes, running articles on the organization’s publications based on press releases and reporting on every development in the Assange/WikiLeaks saga. Why does Russia ensure Assange receives such wide coverage? Though to my knowledge RT was a media partner of WikiLeaks’ just once, it is true that RT quickly jumps on whatever WikiLeaks publishes, running articles on the organization’s publications based on press releases and reporting on every development in the Assange/WikiLeaks saga. Why does Russia ensure Assange receives such wide coverage?
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 **In bed with donald trump?** **In bed with donald trump?**
  
-The allegations against WikiLeaks intensified during the 2016 US elections, after Assange and his staff published the Democratic National Committee emails7 and those of the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, John Podesta8. Many newspapers have accused WikiLeaks of being part of a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. Once again, no evidence whatsoever has been made public in support of this.+The allegations against WikiLeaks intensified during the 2016 US elections, after Assange and his staff published the Democratic National Committee emails (7) and those of the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, John Podesta (8). Many newspapers have accused WikiLeaks of being part of a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. Once again, no evidence whatsoever has been made public in support of this.
  
 I was a partner in the publication of the Podesta emails. I don’t claim to know the truth about what happened. I can only relate the facts as I have witnessed them. As I write, Robert Mueller’s investigation into so-called Russiagate is still ongoing. As of today, I have not seen any evidence of conspiracy, and some of the details of the Russiagate narrative clash with what I saw and what I know. I was a partner in the publication of the Podesta emails. I don’t claim to know the truth about what happened. I can only relate the facts as I have witnessed them. As I write, Robert Mueller’s investigation into so-called Russiagate is still ongoing. As of today, I have not seen any evidence of conspiracy, and some of the details of the Russiagate narrative clash with what I saw and what I know.
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 I want to see Julian Assange and his team free and safe because I want to live in a society where journalists and their sources can expose evil without having to flee to Russia or to risk their necks. That is what freedom of the press is to me. I want to see Julian Assange and his team free and safe because I want to live in a society where journalists and their sources can expose evil without having to flee to Russia or to risk their necks. That is what freedom of the press is to me.
 +
 +**Stefania Maurizi**
 +
 +**February 2019**
 +
 +(1) See Stefania Maurizi, “Dai rifiuti spunta lo 007,” la Repubblica, L’Espresso, August 6, 2009, http://espresso.repubblica.it/palazzo/2009/08/06/news/dairifiuti-spunta-lo-007-1.15163 
 +
 +(2)  See Stefania Maurizi, “Dai rifiuti spunta lo 007,” WikiLeaks, August 6, 2009, https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Dai_rifiuti_spunta_lo_007 
 +
 +(3) “Public Library of US Diplomacy, HMG Floats Proposal for Marine Reserve Covering the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory),” WikiLeaks, May 15, 2009, https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09LONDON1156_a.html. 
 +
 +(4) “Case of El-Masri v. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” European Court of Human Rights, December 13, 2012, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-115621%22]}.
 +
 +(5) “How a chilling Saudi cyberwar ensnared Jamal Khashoggi,” The Washington Post, December 7, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-a-chilling-saudi-cyberwar-ensnared-jamal-khashoggi/2018/12/07/f5f048fe-f975-11e8-8c9a-860ce2a8148f_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a01d366aab15.
 +
 +(6) “Spy Files,” WikiLeaks, https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/.
 +
 +(7)  “Search the DNC email database,” WikiLeaks, https://wikileaks.org//dnc-emails/.
 +
 +(8) “The Podesta Emails,” WikiLeaks, https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/.
 +
  
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