Scandal: A Focus on Wikileaks (Bus. & Pro. Communication)

Scandal: A Focus on WikiLeaks

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I. Introduction

A. “There are things we don't tell them. Things we bury. Things we hide. That's the job. You did something, sir. It doesn't mean you don't deserve to be happy.” *CLICK*

B. Hello, my name is Maggie Pendergrass and we’ll be talking about one of the world’s most infamous scandals.

C. This quote from ABC’s favorite political thriller, Scandal, has everyone talking about public relations. Being a student of public relations and crisis management myself, I’ve taken the opportunity to research some of the 21st century’s most famous scandals and crisis.

D. Today we will be focusing on my personal favorite, WikiLeaks. We will be looking at what WikiLeaks is and what this organization has been doing to become one of the most dangerous activist organizations of our generation.

II. First we will talk about how WikiLeaks got its start. *CLICK*

A. Launched in 2007 by Australian hacker, Julian Assange, WikiLeaks has become one of the most revealing political scandals of our time, releasing over a million classified government and military documents and causing quite an uproar in Washington, D.C.

B. The WikiLeaks website states its purpose to be "to bring important news and information to the public... One of our most important activities is to publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth."

a. The site also describes how each article is read. Every document brought into the site is supplied through a secure dropbox and encryption system. Next, it’s read by one of the WikiLeaks journalists and written about, describing why the document is important.

b. Included in their process is a harm minimization procedure. According to the site, Assange and his staff “may remove or significantly delay the publication of some identifying details from original documents to protect life and limb of innocent people.”

c. Although they have the procedure, the danger is still real for those people included in the documents. In 2011, according to an article from the Huffington Post, over 250,000 US state Department documents were leaked that included the names of various agents and sources, immediately putting their lives in danger.

III. After hearing how WikiLeaks got its start, next we’ll be watching a clip of Assange speaking on one of the first major reports he leaked in Kenya in 2007. *CLICK*

A. In this clip, Assange describes the process by which he and his staff acquired The Kroll Report, a Kenyan intelligence report from 2004, which included the proof of corruption and laundering of Kenyan finances by the government. The leak drastically changed the Kenyan government and was one of the first major leaks by the organization.

B. To summarize, The Kroll Report was basically blackmail to a member of the Kenyan government. By WikiLeaks even possessing the document, word spread in Kenya, changing the results of the Kenyan election the same year. For some in Kenya, Assange literally, changed their world.

C. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD5pIGbM1oY

IV. After watching what Assange has done and learning about what WikiLeaks does, we’ll focus our attention onto what the organization is doing now. *CLICK*

E. According to a timeline provided by The Wall Street Journal, in July of 2010, WikiLeaks released over 76,000 Afghan war documents, including various Afghan attacks previously unreleased by the Department of Defense.

a. Along with these documents came the threat of another release in August of 2010. This release would have the names of Afghan civilians who had helped aid the US in these attacks.

b. According to the site, “Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that their publication could endanger the lives of Afghans who helped the U.S. war effort.”

c. To try to prevent this leak, the Pentagon attempted to prevent the release by threatening imprisonment and espionage charges if he didn’t turn over his documents and their sources, but to no avail.

C. Regardless of how truthful the information posted on the site may be, it’s one of the most dangerous jobs to have. Assange eventually had to apply for residency in Sweden because of their protection of “whistleblowers” and some of his staff and sources have been tried of various crimes, including espionage and treason.

V. In summary, WikiLeaks is, in my opinion, one of the largest transparency scandals of our generation. *CLICK*

A. We spoke today about what WikiLeaks does with the information they collect and have looked at what the organization is currently doing to keep governments transparent.

B. The organization and site has to date leaked over a million government documents, with no intention of slowing down or sacrificing truth for safety.

C. As Julian Assange says, “If journalism is good, it is controversial, by its nature.”