Assignment 9: Media Ethics/Media Law

2010 was a great year for media law and ethics cases.  I believe the most well known case would be against Julian Assange with WikiLeaks.  As most of us know, the founder of WikiLeaks turned himself in to London Police late last year for an allegedly “unrelated” case. There has been ongoing controversy since, dealing with First Amendment/censorship issues, Privacy/intrusion issues, and even trying to figure out if WikiLeaks is even considered “journalism.”

From our internet search project I came across a great article pertaining to this ongoing case titled, “Government Defends Tactics in WikiLeaks Probe.”  I had mentioned on my internet search project that, “this article discusses how far our judicial system is reaching to obtain information from twitter users that are suspected of releasing confidential information.  In a recent court hearing the legal team of the accused stated the government is on a “fishing expedition” and that it is an “outrageous attack by the Obama administration on the privacy and free speech…”.” 

There has been an update in the case in that a judge has given the “ok” to have twitter records released to the Feds in the WikiLeaks Probe – which has been labeled a gross violation of the First and Fourth Amendments.  The legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has commented, “We're disappointed that the court did not recognize that people using digital tools deserve basic privacy and that the government should be required to meet a high standard before it demands private information about you from the online services you use…”

There has yet to be an outcome in this case.  As it stands Julian Assange has been extradited to Sweden for the allegedly unrelated case, which is just a midpoint to his final destination, the US.  I believe this is just going around the issue to make any case against Julian, similar to the cases of old mobsters getting arrested for tax evasion decades ago.  Not saying I agree or disagree Julian or the recent court rulings, what I do not agree with is the witch hunt our judicial system is currently partaking in.  He will never get a fair trial in any case and we’re undermining our own beliefs in order to silence that journalist.