{"id":32187,"date":"2010-12-15T14:52:44","date_gmt":"2010-12-15T19:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=32187"},"modified":"2010-12-15T14:52:44","modified_gmt":"2010-12-15T19:52:44","slug":"seeing-the-light-columbia-and-wikileaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/seeing-the-light-columbia-and-wikileaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing the Light: Columbia and Wikileaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now a group of Columbia’s journalism professors has made a statement regarding WikiLeaks. According to CNN.com<\/a>, 19 professors in Columbia’s School of Journalism have signed a letter asking President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder not to prosecute WikiLeaks because it would set a “bad precedent for reporters.” The letter makes the point that, “As a historical matter, government overreaction to publication of leaked material in the press has always been more damaging to American democracy than the leaks themselves.”<\/p>\n

It’s been less than two weeks since Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) first forbade its students from re-posting and discussing online the contents of the cables leaked by WikiLeaks and then rescinded that policy a few days later, stating instead that, “Freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution.\u201d SIPA Dean John H. Coatsworth continued in an email to the SIPA community,”Thus, SIPA\u2019s position is that students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies or to their roles as global citizens, and to do so without fear of adverse consequences.”<\/p>\n

The CNN article about the School of Journalism points out that Holder is an alumnus of both Columbia’s undergrad program and law school, and Obama also received his BA from Columbia. Given that the English translation of the school’s motto is, “In Thy light shall we see light,” lets hope the journalism professors help the President and Attorney General see some in Assange’s case and in the cause of freedom of speech in general. <\/p>\n

The letter<\/strong><\/a>, which is reflective of these 19 professors’ personal views and is not an official statement from the School of Journalism or the University, states in part: <\/p>\n

But while we hold varying opinions of Wikileaks\u2019 methods and decisions, we all believe that in publishing diplomatic cables Wikileaks is engaging in journalistic activity protected by the First Amendment. Any prosecution of Wikileaks\u2019 staff for receiving, possessing or publishing classified materials will set a dangerous precedent for reporters in any publication or medium, potentially chilling investigative journalism and other First Amendment-protected activity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is<\/em> chilling. Let’s keep shining that light.<\/p>\n

— amanda<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now a group of Columbia’s journalism professors has made a statement regarding WikiLeaks. According to CNN.com, 19 professors in Columbia’s School of Journalism have signed a letter asking President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder not to prosecute WikiLeaks because it would set a “bad precedent for reporters.” The letter makes the point that, “As … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}