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

Against a background of the Arab Spring, a number of talks at the recent DW Global Media Forum focused on the importance of the Internet and social media networks during protests and popular uprisings, especially in Tunisia and Egypt.

But in their efforts to control information or suppress freedom of expression, some governments will try to block access to the Internet and mobile phone networks.

The United Nations has just issued a report saying that blocking Internet access may be a violation of human rights because it infringes on the freedom of expression.

This point was emphasised by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, during his keynote speech at the GMF.

“The Internet has become a space representing an unprecedented potential for freedom. Not only for the freedom of expression. It is now the main vehicle for democracy where people organise themselves and voice their opposition to government.”

Jagland added:

“We need a global instrument for this purpose, and I support the recent UN report’s call for access to the Internet as a globally recognised human right. I agree and we should start in Europe!”

So should access to the Internet be a human right? The DW-Akademie put that question to participants at the GMF.

 

Internet Access as a Human Right – GMF Vox Pop from DW Akademie – Africa on Vimeo

 

Photo credit: Deutsche Welle/K. Danetzki (some rights reserved CC BY-NC)

Video interviews: Chiponda Chimbelu