Newspapers appeal for
Wikileaks protection
A group of major German newspapers and a human rights advocacy group Thursday published an appeal against the criminalisation of whistleblower website Wikileaks, saying the site deserved as much protection as traditional media.
Dailies Der Tagesspiegel, Frankfurter Rundschau, and Die Tageszeitung, along with weekly Der Freitag, online magazine Perlentaucher and the Berlin-based European Centre for Constitutional and human Rights (ECCHR) all simultaneously released the plea.
“The internet is a new form of spreading information,” it said. “It must enjoy the same protection as traditional media.”
The political and economic pressure put on Wikileaks following its publication of thousands of confidential US diplomatic cables has been “inappropriate” the statement said.
While there may be good reasons to criticise the release, but taking action against the “journalistic medium” was a form of intolerable censorship, it added.
“The state is not an end in itself and must endure a confrontation with its own secrets,” it said.
Pressure by the US government for large international companies such as MasterCard, PayPal and Amazon to end their cooperation with Wikileaks reveals a “shocking understanding of democracy in which freedom of information is only valid when it doesn’t harm anyone.”
“Journalism has not only the right, but the duty to check the state and illuminate the mechanisms of government business,” the statement said, calling on businesses and governments to end their attempts to silence the site.
The Local/ka
The political and economic pressure put on Wikileaks following its publication of thousands of confidential US diplomatic cables has been “inappropriate” the statement said.
While there may be good reasons to criticise the release, but taking action against the “journalistic medium” was a form of intolerable censorship, it added.
“The state is not an end in itself and must endure a confrontation with its own secrets,” it said.
Pressure by the US government for large international companies such as MasterCard, PayPal and Amazon to end their cooperation with Wikileaks reveals a “shocking understanding of democracy in which freedom of information is only valid when it doesn’t harm anyone.”
“Journalism has not only the right, but the duty to check the state and illuminate the mechanisms of government business,” the statement said, calling on businesses and governments to end their attempts to silence the site.
The Local/ka
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