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November 8, 2017

The Great Wall of Journalistic Secrecy – Paradise Papers

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 9:44 pm

At time mark 21:20, you learn the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is absolutely committed to being The Great Wall of Journalistic Secrecy between you and the Paradise Papers.

Even secrecy-before-effectiveness agencies of the U.S. government, the CIA, the FBI and the NSA, among others, pay more lip service to the idea of transparency than the ICIJ.

The ICIJ claim its secrecy protects the privacy of some while its members profit from violating the privacy of others, sounds more like the current US president than a credible news organization.

What were the conditions under which the ICIJ was entrusted with this leak? How are the interests of the leaker advanced by the ICIJ’s handling of this leak? Those are are only two questions the public will never have answered if the ICIJ has any say in the matter. Numerous others will occur to you.

Perhaps the ICIJ should have some preliminary period of exclusive access to the leaked materials, say 3 years from the first published report based on the leaked materials. But thirty-six months is more than long enough for the public to wait to confirm for itself the claims and stories published by ICIJ members.

If transparency is important for government, it is even more important for watchdogs of government.

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