Odd Timing: As State Department Condemns Wikileaks, It's Promoting A Movie Celebrating Daniel Ellsberg & The Pentagon Papers
from the mass-confusion dept
Last month, we noted the hilarious timing in which the State Department announced it was hosting world press freedom day, at the same time it was screaming about the evils of the press in revealing the leaked State Department cables. It appears that the State Department still hasn't quite figured out how to be consistent on these issues. As it continues to slam Wikileaks... it's also promoting a new documentary celebrating Daniel Ellsberg for leaking the Pentagon Papers:Amid its struggle to contain damage from the WikiLeaks revelations, the State Department announced Saturday that "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" has been selected as one of 18 films that will tour the world this year as part of its "American Documentary Showcase" program.I'd argue that the left-hand at the State Department isn't talking to the right-hand very much, but perhaps that's just because of the new policies put in place to keep all State Department communications more secret to avoid future leaks.
Ellsberg, whom the film portrays as a whistleblower of conscience, has been a champion of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the alleged leaker of the documents who is currently jailed. He has also spoken in defence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who may also face charges for publishing classified information.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: culture, daniel ellsberg, documentary, movies, state department, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
One Word I Think It Is ....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: One Word I Think It Is ....
BRASSY!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: One Word I Think It Is ....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: One Word I Think It Is ....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They won't stop condemning Wikileaks until it and its culture become enshrined in popular media like the Pentagon Papers did.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
So far as we can tell, this leak has been focused, as well. Specifically, on government corruption and censorship.
...rather than just being a massive dump of data...
As I pointed out to someone else yesterday, the Pentagon Papers consist of 47 volumes, all of which are still classified. The size of the leak doesn't invalidate it.
...out of frustration?
Right now, we don't even have confirmation of who leaked those documents, so how do you know what their intent was?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Are you a robot or what other reaction than frustration do you have concerning a government that's constantly been lying to everyone and abusing it's power?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
yes folks right this way
DING DING DING.
haha....
the referee will be president obama ( and hollywood )
and the coaches respectfully are the corpses of Nixon and mister Kennedy. TWO fine examples of American politics.
NO ONE trusts YOU EVER AGAIN and now YOU CANT even pretend like you can be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Where are the Trolls!?!?
We get all those Anonymous Coward and average_joe trolls on music industry articles, but none on articles about the potentially game changing Wikileaks.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Where are the Trolls!?!?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Where are the Trolls!?!?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Super Top Secret Tripply Classified: Access Denied
[ link to this | view in chronology ]