The Abomination of Silence

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks has just told journalist at the London Frontline Club that the online anti-secrecy organization could shout down by the end of the year. Assange said, "If WikiLeaks does not find a way to remove this blockage we will simply not be able to continue by the turn of the new year." After WikiLeaks published some 250,000 U.S. State Department cables financial pressure on the organization began to take hold. Mysteriously, Visa, MasterCard, Western Union and PayPal stopped processing donations. It has been no secret that Assange and WikiLeaks are under intense legal pressure as well. Assange himself being accused of rape while he and other believe the case against him are trumped up and an attempt to silence WikiLeaks. In addition to that, pfc. Bradley Manning still remains in prison at Fort Leavenworth for the alleged leaking of information to WikiLeaks. Will WikiLeaks be shut down, censoring freedom of the press? Without financial donations, at least this one source of freedom of the press may be silenced once and for all.

Some might say, so what if WikiLeaks is shut down. However, this is not only about WikiLeaks but an issue about what can and cannot be relayed to the public. That is the main focal point of freedom of the press. Do governments have the right to censor what we are allowed to know about? It seems that the U.S. government and others around the world would rather operate under a veil of secrecy. This is one of the issues that irk protesters of "Occupy" from around the world.

In a related issue, the Department of Justice wants a New York Times reporter to divulge his sources. The department is asking a federal appeals court to force the reporter to testify about confidential sources at a trial of a Central Intelligence Agency officer. The officer is accused of leaking top secret information. While the judge ruled that the testimony was covered by the "reporter’s privilege" the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said the appeal was troubling for First Amendment advocates, yet not unexpected.

According to the director, the Obama administration has made it clear that they detest leakers and that they will be dealt with aggressively. All bad news for our First Amendment Rights and freedom of the press. Arguably, the mainstream media is all about reporting news that has been filtered in some way. Is our government trying to tell us, "you can’t handle the truth?" Or is it that they just have too much corruption to cover up? These are things that should anger Americans. We were promised transparency of government but instead what we are seeing is an attack on reporters, whistleblowers and on our First Amendment rights.

Freedom of the press allows for the right to publish newspapers and other printed material without governmental restriction or interference. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press and both of these rights are closely intertwined.

As Thomas Jefferson said, "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." While we are talking about liberty we should also remember what George Orwell said. "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." It is government secrecy that is causing the public outcry against corruption. Those wondering what the mission is of the "Occupy" protesters do not need to look much further than the First Amendment. These protester rights’ are being challenged on a daily basis. And it is true what John F. Kennedy said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."