'THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW'

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Die Tageszeitung, Germany

WikiLeaks Makes Real a Global Public Sphere

 

"Piece by piece, national editorial boards are presenting new content from the once-secret records. Of course, journalists and online readers are following what the competition abroad reveals; the sovereignty of national editorial departments in interpreting information is being put to the test. The public sphere is in fact becoming international."

 

By Ines Kappert

                           

 

Translated By Carol Goetzky

 

December 1, 2010

 

Germany - Die Tageszeitung - Original Article (German)

WikiLeaks' unpredictable publication practices return a bit of freedom to the reader: the freedom to be addressed as an informed democrat. Journalists usually address their buyers as more-or-less worn out news consumers, who, before or during the workday, gear up quickly to confront the rest of the world. 

 

And generally, that's just fine. Nevertheless, long-established methods have in the past been broken. Just as long as both sides remained aware of the routine - journalists filtered and ground down news items until they were bite-sized. But routines have an annoying habit of confirming convention and knowledge structures, in other words identifying changeable things as immutable by nature.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US\

 

By contrast, WikiLeaks dares to define public openness in an unusual way and angrily straddles the often-unquestioned relationship between reader and decision-maker. The issue is: what should the public know? The leakers stand for self-empowerment by not accepting the existing division of labor between politics, journalists, and their audience: "We determine what you publish."

 

Five newspapers have received a huge mass of data labeled secret, and will have to show how best to deal with it. But competition forces you to act quickly - hence the reader suddenly confronts a situation very close to the international press and the world of international diplomacy. The reader can observe how editorial boards form messages out of bits of information and how they filter data, whom they protect and whom they attack. It’s instructive - and also amusing, to observe how Der Spiegel largely presents global diplomacy as an entertainment piece highlighting German politicians, in other words specifically de-politicizing them; and by contrast, how The Guardian emphasizes the politically explosive: America's Middle-East policies and its dialogue with the Arab States. In France, Le Monde cares most strongly about the government hosting waytalks over the Guantanamo detainees, while The New York Times defends its right to information from Washington - and considers the dispute over Iran as a central issue. 

 

Of course, we are now admonished not to over-burden readers with too much information. Even those who only read German language newspapers have noticed that elites and journalists are arguing bitterly about what the public should and shouldn’t know. World peace is said to be in danger. This isn't primarily the fault of interested readers, but the argument can't be simply wiped away. Public opinion is a valuable asset - and can also be a weapon. Democracy only functions on the basis of transparency - yet at the same time, it requires a certain degree of secrecy. These are the tense circumstances we have entered into. It is fascinating to see how these opposing needs are being rebalanced right before the eyes of readers. 

 

Piece by piece, national editorial boards are presenting new content from the once-secret records. Of course, journalists and online readers are following what the competition abroad reveals; the sovereignty of the national editorial departments in interpreting information is being put to the test. The public sphere is in fact becoming international. 

 

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Jornal De Negócios, Portugal: More than We Wanted to Know. Or Maybe Not!

DNA, France: The WikiLeaks Disclosures: A Journalist's Ambivalence

Global Times, China: WikiLeaks Poses Greater Risk to West's 'Enemies'

FAZ, Germany: Ahmadinejad's Chief-of-Staff Calls WikiLeaks Cables 'Lies'

Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Saudis Ask: Who Benefitted from WikiLeaks Disclosure?

Guardian, U.K.: Cables Portray Saudi Arabia as a Cash Machine for Terrorists

El País, Spain: Cables Expose Nuance of U.S. Displeasure with Spain Government

El País, Spain: Thanks to WikiLeaks' Disclosure, Classical Diplomacy is Dead

Guardian, U.K.: Saudi Arabia Urges U.S. Attack on Iran

Hurriyet, Turkey: Erdogan Needs 'Anger Management' Over U.S. Cables

Saudi Gazette, Saudi Arabia: WikiLeaks Reveals 'Feeling, Flawed' Human Beings

Frontier Post, Pakistan: WikiLeaks Reveals 'America's Dark Face' to the World

The Nation: WikiLeaks' Release: An Invaluable Exposure of American Hypocrisy

Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina: Without Hypocrisy, Global Ties Would Be Chaos

Kayhan, Iran: WikiLeaks Release a 'U.S. Plot to Sow Discord'

El Universal, Mexico: WikiLeaks and Mexico's Battle Against Drug Trafficking

Toronto Star, Canada: WikiLeaks Dump Reveals Seamy Side of Diplomacy

Guardian, U.K.: WikiLeaks Cables, Day 3: Summary of Today's Key Points

Guardian, U.K.: Leaked Cables Reveal China is 'Ready to Abandon' North Korea

Hurriyet, Turkey: American Cables Prove Turkish Claims on Missile Defense False

The Nation, Pakistan: WikiLeaks: An Invaluable Exposure of American Hypocrisy

Kayhan, Iran: WikiLeaks Revelations a 'U.S. Intelligence Operation': Ahmadinejad

Novosti, Russia: 'Russia Will be Guided by Actions, Not Leaked Secrets'

Guardian, U.K.: Job of Media is Not to Protect Powerful from Embarrassment

ANSA, Italy: WikiLeaks: 'No Wild Parties' Says Berlusconi

 

 

The beauty of reading and producing newspapers is in making unremitting use of the option to correct. No message and no insight are sacrosanct. Just hours later (online) or at least the next day (in print), they are often qualified, enriched, and put into context: an editorial is just one such method of correction.    

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

Current assessments of the sensitive U.S. data will also be corrected. In that sense, WikiLeaks is showing once more that what we read in the press is what we thought and knew at a particular moment in time. To what extent this corresponds to reality has to be subject to constant re-examination. And what's the added value of this lofty realization? Discomfort, labor, the freedom to think for yourself - and to wake up. 

 

Some say that the notion of the informed reader is dangerous populism. True. But without it there can be no democracy.  

 

Please Read a Personal Appeal from

Worldmeets.US Founder William Kern

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US December 8, 11:28pm]