The case of the US vs Bradley Manning
Why have the US media shied away from covering the source of the WikiLeaks
material yet gouged on his information?
Listening Post Last Modified: 09 Mar 2013 12:51
US Private Bradley Manning is no longer the alleged source of all those
documents to WikiLeaks. According to his own testimony, delivered before a
military court on February 28, Manning was the source - nothing alleged about
it.
In a pre-trial hearing for the first time, Manning admitted that he broke the
law when he released around 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks but these
lesser charges did not satisfy the United States government.
Calling more than 100 witnesses - some anonymously and in closed hearings -
prosecutors will argue that Manning's leak put national security and lives at
risk by `aiding the enemy'.
If convicted, Manning - the traitor, could face life without parole but what of
Manning - the whistleblower?
During his hour-long plea, Manning told the court that he first turned to the
national press. Before approaching WikiLeaks, Manning says he contacted the New
York Times, the Washington Post and Politico - neither of which returned his
calls. His testimony raises the question of whether the mainstream press was
prepared to host the debate on US interventions and foreign policy that Manning
had in mind.
Media outlets went on to draw on WikiLeaks for some of the biggest news stories
of the decade. Manning's leak meant millions of papers sold and pages viewed
yet the story of the man himself has been pushed to the margins. Is this just
ingratitude or something more sinister? Are important parts of the fourth
estate signing up for a system of government-media relations that sees
whistleblowers as enemies of the state?
To discuss Manning's testimony and the implications for journalism and freedom
of speech our News Divide guests this week are: Chase Madar, author of `The
Passion of Bradley Manning'; Jesselyn Radack, whistleblower and activist; Ed
Pilkington, a reporter for the Guardian; and Janet Reitman, a Rolling Stone
columnist.
In NewsBytes this week: Two more journalists gunned down in Pakistan; the
Somalian journalist on trial for reporting on rape gets six months in jail;
Myanmar's hopeful media opening under threat; and the French government in a
flap over coverage of the war in Mali.
Our feature takes us to Ethiopia where the US `war on terror' has provided
cover for laws that are being used to silence dissident journalists. Reeyot
Alemu is one of those journalists - she has been sentenced to five years in
jail. Foreign reporters have also been charged under anti-terrorism laws for
daring to communicate with opposition groups. The Listening Post's Nic Muirhead
takes a closer look.
We close with a musical take on the WikiLeaks story from a region that has been
a better friend to Julian Assange than some other parts of the world. Perhaps
Assange is tapping his toes to `El Son de los WikiLeaks' while counting the
days in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Listening Post can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Saturday:
0830, 1930; Sunday: 1430; Monday: 0430.
Click here for more Listening Post.
Source:
Al Jazeera
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