Sunday, March 03, 2013

Truest statement of the week II

During a pretrial hearing in January, the government maintained that they would have prosecuted Manning for espionage and "aiding the enemy" whether he leaked to Wikileaks or The New York Times. In fact, prosecutors stated they saw no difference between the two. While Wikileaks and the Times are different animals, they do have this in common: Both use their sources, as all journalists do, and they both used Bradley Manning, to maximum effect. The Times may have ignored Manning's initial call, but it ultimately profited greatly from his leaks by "partnering" with Wikileaks on both the war logs and the cables, which the Times' managing editor at the time, Bill Keller, referred to as a "treasure" that "contained the makings of many dozens of stories." Julian Assange, the far greater profiteer, became a celebrity while his source, who has never betrayed any personal knowledge of him, languished in prison. 


--  Janet Reitman, "Did the Mainstream Media Fail Bradley Manning?" (Rolling Stone).