Editor's Letter: Advocates for truth

I found it striking that veteran journalist Daniel Schorr passed away last week just as tens of thousands of classified U.S. documents relating to the Afghanistan war were published by WikiLeaks.

I found it striking that veteran journalist Daniel Schorr passed away last week just as tens of thousands of classified U.S. documents relating to the Afghanistan war were published by WikiLeaks, a 3-year-old “whistle-blower” website that specializes in exposing secrets. Schorr also made it his specialty to expose secrets, from Nixon’s Watergate abuses to CIA assassination plots. For many journalists of a certain age (okay, mine), Schorr was an iconic figure, an old-school reporter who was willing—and even a bit eager—to challenge anyone, including his own paymasters, who tried to suppress the news. (See Obituaries.)

What a different media world we live in today. Schorr’s influence was derived from his being part of the great news team that Edward R. Murrow built at CBS. WikiLeaks, on the other hand, employs no professional journalists, lacks the resources to thoroughly verify all the leaks it receives, and eschews such journalism norms as seeking comment from affected parties. It’s all driven by a vaguely anarchistic agenda that considers powerful institutions like the U.S. military and multinational corporations to be inherent threats to human compassion and truth. Schorr, too, considered himself an advocate for truth, though as a product of what’s now derided as the mainstream media, he viewed his digging as a civic responsibility, not an act of subversion. Yet Schorr and the WikiLeaks activists shared a belief that in the absence of an informed citizenry, there can be no real accountability. They had something else in common, too. The government claims that some of the embarrassing secrets revealed by WikiLeaks jeopardize national security. Some things never change.

Eric Effron

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us