Wikileaks the New Fourth Estate

Wikileaks, a non-profit organization which implied much on freedom of press and freedom of speech started its activities in 2006, leaking sensitive information to other sources and shared online for public view and responses using internet as a base of operations and moved journalism to a new level. “As Daniel Ellsberg, and then Woodward and Bernstein, remade journalism into a transaction of reporters and sources, now it will be a hacker’s function” (Wolff, 2010). This phenomenon is shifting the face of journalism towards online journalism which made it the new fourth estate, and Julian Assange has laid the first stone in the form of Wikileaks. He always speaks "to bring important news and information to the public... the original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth." (Assange, 2006)

Taking of free speech John Adams spoke of free speech as no such thing ever existed and no such thing now exists but hopes for a better future where everyone can experience free speech.

The media now is changed as most of them have become commercial and no longer has an antagonistic relationship with secrecy, concentration of power and corruption as the corporations which pay for politicians now own the Journalists and the media agencies.

Coming to the Wikileaks most of the mainstream journalists hate it because it not only gave discrete information on governments but also exposed the media and how they are acting as a smokescreen generating machine for government. (Ben, 2010), in comparison with the present journalism with that of 30 year old journalism Ben Tripp, exclaims if there would have been such a leak about governments and corporations a properly motivated Fourth estate wou...

... middle of paper ...

...to face the consequences for what to come for a better tomorrow, but how many of us will be ready to such a sacrifice.

In conclusion the freedom of speech and freedom of press is completely attained when the journalism is impartial towards the politicians and corporates. The stand that wikileaks took to educate people of what governments are doing in a disguise to protect themselves disregarding the interests of people who elect them. The essay also portrays the use of advanced technology which will enable its user to view and share information creating the social awareness of what the government is hiding from its people which can be discussed and debated on the whole and a justified outcome can be attained. Thus we can exclaim that internet which is humongous source of all kinds of information can be the new fourth estate where every aspect has a global approach.