In recent days, WikiLeaks has drawn plenty of attention over its leaking of secret U.S. government documents on the war in Afghanistan. Some say the move endangers U.S. troops and Afghan informants, threatening U.S. national security.
Some observers of the nonprofit world are also accusing the charity, which provides a platform by which whistleblowers, journalists, and activists can anonymously share sensitive information with the public, of not being sufficiently transparent about its finances.
Jim Barnett, a writer and volunteer for the Nieman Journalism Lab, at Harvard University, says the group publishes next to nothing about how it is run on the “About Us” section of its Web site.
“I understand the need to protect whistleblowers and other sources,” he says. “But when it comes to the group’s finances, can’t it cut out all the James Bond stuff?”
Nonprofit journalism outlets such as WikiLeaks may be the future of journalism; skeptics of the model, meanwhile, raise questions about whether nonprofit journalism groups will become too beholden to their donors. Mr. Barnett doesn’t buy that argument, but he does say that the secrecy around WikiLeaks “invites speculation.”
That speculation was also fueled by a recent Wired article, which reported that WikiLeaks had spent only about $38,000 of $500,000 it had raised since December.
WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, did offer a few additional bits of information about the group’s financing in an article this month in the Sydney Morning Herald. He said a recent fund-raising drive brought in $1-million (twice the amount reported by Wired), most of it from small donors.
“Large trusts, though, have steered clear of WikiLeaks because of political suspicions, worries about the legality of posting leaked material on the Internet,” and other concerns, the article says.
Does WikiLeaks need to be more transparent about who its donors are — and how much it has raised and spent?
0 Responses to Who Are WikiLeaks Donors?
ecnyerges - August 2, 2010 at 10:49 am
I think WikiLeaks is a total scam. This “company” is convincing people to leak classified documents at the risk of going to jail for the rest of their lives. There are better ways to go about finding the truth then stealing paperwork that is CLASSIFIED for a reason!! Does Mr. Assange have any trouble sleeping at night, knowing that some man or woman in Afghanistan who is fighting for the freedom of their country and a better life for their family may be brutally tortured and killed by the Taliban when their name appears online as an informant? This is not a game, this is a WAR. Additionally, the fact that WikiLeaks is so reluctant to publish their financial information is RIDICULOUS!! They tout themselves as a group that exposes the truth, no matter the consequences, but won’t be forthcoming about their own finances? If you ask me, they are using controversy and school-yard gossip tactics to raise money for their own profit without any concern for the damage they are doing. I am a former journalist, and I belive in freedom of expression and the Freedom of Information Act to my very core…but there is a little thing called “ethics” that is supposed to govern and balance our search for the truth. Mr. Assange in an embarassment to professional communicators everywhere and should be ashamed of himself. Now why doesn’t someone investigate HIM so we can charge him with something?