Yes. Yes it is.

WikiLeaks is absolutely part of the journalistic cannon. I need only point to the first lines of its About section: “WikiLeaks is a not-for-profit media organisation. Our goal is to bring important news and information to the public.” See? It’s right there in the intro.

As easy as it would be for me to just end my blog post there (and believe me the time would be very beneficial to my ECA project), I apparently have to defend this argument.

The importance of WikiLeaks lies in its operations. Its team breaks stories that would never make it to the public eye, and they are able to provide every extra source to further prove the validity of their content. In many ways, their method is the most absolute form of journalism; how can anyone deny the blatant murders of several innocent people when the video shows it so clearly? Furthermore, is highly unlikely that the torturing of prisoners would have been a huge, blown out story without the coverage that WikiLeaks provided. These injustices to humanity must be brought to the public’s attention, and this typically causes reform.

WikiLeak’s opponents come from the same principles as every other news organizations’ problems. If that’s not the kind of news you’re interested in, then don’t watch it. The same thing happens to obviously conservative Fox News and its liberal counterparts. There are some things that possibly shouldn’t be reported (unless you’re James Bond, secret agents need that kind of protection), but the majority of the content seems to act as a solid way to keep the government on its toes.

Furthermore, the fact that WikiLeaks actually saves articles that have been censored is an incredible feature of true journalism that cannot be ignored. By getting around the censors, WikiLeaks has discovered a loophole to get the truth to the masses. The world is not a pretty place, and it’s good that there’s an unabashed news source that is willing to prove that.