Wikileaks and the Iraq. Authorities Reactions to 2010 Leaks

Academic Paper from the year 2018 in the subject Communications - Journalism, Journalism Professions, grade: 10/10, University of Iceland, language: English, abstract: Wikileaks, founded in 2006 by Julian Assange, is a non-profit organization which aims to facilitate the anonymous leaking of secret information, censored by the government and private actors, through its public website. Through the global reach of the Internet, taking advantage of the speed of networks and the possibility to interact anonymously, Wikileaks has spread documents considered private or secret through electronic publication. On April 5th 2010, Wikileaks published on its website, a secret edited video titled "Collateral Murder". The video, taken in Iraq from an American Apache helicopter, shows a fatal attack against 12 civilians, including two Reuters photographers, and the wounding of their rescuers, including two children. The army, however, declared that they believed the targets were armed military, not civilians. On July 25th 2010 Wikileaks published 91,000 online reports on the war in Afghanistan in a document called the "Afghan War Diary", and on October 22nd 2010 they published 391, 32 Iraq War logs.