How pioneering WikiLeaks collaboration ended in distrust...

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  • The #WikiLeaks cables reveal much less than the Pentagon Papers | Michael Burleigh | Media | The Guardian
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/05/wikileaks-cables-pentagon-papers

    Moreover, the WikiLeaks documents merely provide a small window into US foreign policy at a certain, necessarily gossipy, level. They are interesting, but about as reliable as hearsay evidence in court about a stabbing in a packed nightclub.

    • Arg c’est archi-mauvais. Je ne sais pas ce que c’est que cette campagne que lance le Guardian contre Wikileaks, m’enfin c’est mauvais.

      Le type nous ressort le poncif : y’a rien dedans qu’on ne savait déjà, et en plus y’a rien dedans qu’on ne savait déjà. (En précisant que, vraiment, ça ne nous apprend rien qu’on ne savait déjà, hein.)

      Ah si, un argument (débilissime) supplémentaire :

      Other scholars lament the effect WikiLeaks will have on future generations of historians. Most obviously, anything of a sensitive nature – such as the Saudis saying they will switch off their radars if Israel bombs Iran – will be passed on by word of mouth or on the telephone. Unless Julian Assange stations lip-readers in Washington’s Mall or St James’s Park, and hires people capable of intercepting encrypted satellite phone calls, historians will be bereft of that type of information for all time, for it will not be written down.

      Donc y’a rien dans les cablegate, mais désormais, à cause d’eux, les diplomates vont cesser d’écrire des choses inintéressantes par écrit, de peur que ce qu’ils écrivent d’inintéressant et de non compromettant ne sorte dans la presse.

      Mine de rien, c’est un historien qui décide aujourd’hui des documents qui seront utiles ou non les historiens de demain.

    • Je parlerais pas de campagne — ils publient différents points de vue http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/05/traditional-papers-wikileaks-arianna-huffington — mais eux mêmes évoquent une « froideur » :

      “The froideur between Assange and the Guardian is disappointing because, in so many ways, the collaboration over the leaked war logs and embassy cables was a model of what traditional media and the new breed of digital subversive can achieve together. Assange brought a trove of raw data and a considerable degree of savviness about how to work with vast, complex databases – and, not insignificantly, the ability to publish outside the reach of any individual jurisdiction. The Guardian and other media partners brought the old-fashioned journalistic skills and deep expertise required to figure out what mattered – and the resources (some 40 Guardian reporters worked on the cables alone) and commitment to deal with highly sensitive material responsibly.”

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