Watergate - Wikileaks - Freedom of the Press

It seems every time I open my homepage MSN, I see this guy who founded Wikileaks is in deeper trouble. I have read many posts and comments from hundreds of people about Wikileaks publishing some "classified" papers. Some say he is a traitor and other say he is a great defender of freedom. You probably already have your own opinion.

While thinking of all the pros and cons of Wikileaks, I remembered the Watergate cover up. For those who don't know the Watergate story: it was a Republican covert operation. Which included breaking and entering into the Democratic Party Headquarters in attempt to thwart the Democrat campaign for the presidency of the United States. It concluded with the resignation of President Nixon back in the 70's.

Briefly:

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were investigative reporters for the Washington Post. An informant called, "Deep Throat" secretly passed information to them about the Watergate cover up by White House Republicans . You can "Google or Bing" for more information on Watergate if you are interested. But for comparison I am going to sum up the opinions and what happened.

Those who loved Nixon, hated Bob, Carl, and the Washington Post, these were mostly Republicans. Nixon denied any knowledge of wrong doing. A famous Nixon line: "I am not a crook" was born here. They sacrificed a few close adviser's to Nixon, trying to deflect attention from Nixon's involvement. In the end it didn't work, Nixon resigned his Presidency.

On the other hand there were those who thought Bob and Carl and the Washington Post were heroes, these were mostly Democrats. They viewed Bob, Carl, and the Post as defending democracy.

After comparing the shouting about Watergate and Wikileaks here is what I'm thinking.

There has been a huge shift in Freedom of the Press and whistle blowing since the days of Watergate. Whistle blowers used to be protected and the press mostly reported the facts. Not so much anymore.

Now the news is just not reported. If you are not informed as to what is going on you do not know what is going on. Those who do bad things do not want you to know what they are doing. This is called a cover up. Labeling something top secret or classified or a matter of national security does not change it from wrong to right.

Withholding information from the people is dangerous to a democracy. Actually a democracy can be ruined because of withheld information.

I started to notice the absence of reporting with the war in Iraq. When President Bush no longer allowed coffins of dead Americans to be photographed or published by the press. As a matter of fact no negative news is allowed anymore wherever our troops are fighting. You may point to Abu Ghraib or a few other things. But I am talking Mi Lie Massacre compared to Bradly Manning. Briefly, Mi Lie was reported and those who did wrong were made to answer (at least a little). Bradly Manning blew the same whistle last year and he is the one in prison. You can "Google or Bing" these two stories and form your own opinion. The point is; what is "right" has been changed by our government, either in the name of national security or classified information.

The results of this information (or lack of information) is obvious. Vets from Vietnam were called "baby killers" when they came home and there was great opposition to the Vietnam War. Vets from Iraq or Afghanistan are called "heroes" when they come home; the war is on the back burner of many peoples minds; and when troops do come home they have a parade for them.

Different news results in different public perception. I believe these two wars are viewed differently because of the information (reported or not reported) in the news.

Sidebar - many many vets from both wars have problems dealing with what went on. What they did, what they saw, and what happened. I am not talking about straight up combat, that is bad enough. I am talking about things they knew were wrong and were helpless to make it right. Some have even been ordered to never talk about it.

Now back to my topic.

Today, our government has turned whistle blowers into the bad guy to protect itself. It was scary enough for Bob, Carl and the Post to report on Watergate with the freedom to report the cover up. Now, a person should be terrified to turn in anyone in the government for wrong doing. At best they will be fired, at worst (so far) they will go to prison.

The focus is not on what wrong was done but who had the audacity to bring it to light. Freedom of the press has grown more limited with direct pressure from our government. Lots of things are now "classified" to prevent the truth from being told and protect those who screwed up, nothing else.

Here's your choices:

1) Call it like it is and pay the price FOR freedom.
2) Hide things you don't want known and pay the price WITH freedom.

You cannot have it both ways. There is a price to be paid no matter what, one is FOR freedom, one is WITH freedom.

Wilileaks is a poor example. Why? Wikileaks only published the information and it was a foreign publisher. They did not steal the information. Who stole the information? Actually, I don't know. But I do know Wikileaks is in a mess because our government wants it destroyed. I doubt the idea of freedom will ever be destroyed. Things like Wikileaks will always pop up. The only way for Wikileaks and others like them to be destroyed is to be open and honest. The self preservation game of individual politicians must stop, but I know it will not.

Not only is our news oppressed by our government, now the government wants to restrict information coming from other sources. Sounds like China to me.

Politicians will do whatever it takes to stay in office. That sounds like China to me also.

This is not a democrat or republican problem. It is systemic. If you haven't given the 1st Amendment, Freedom of the Press, much thought maybe now is a good time to think about it.

Here's your sign.