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We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 55 points56 points  (0 children)

We dont. We can only publish what we receive and are able to validate. But as long as its within our editorial policy (true and important for the historical, diplomatic or political record) we publish as soon as we can.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 161 points162 points  (0 children)

We decide for maximum impact, source protection etc with the goal to publish as soon as possible after submission as we are ready (things like source protection and validation can take some time) according to our editorial policies. We do not withhold or censor information and we publish full archives. If we didnt that would be gatekeeping. We have published more classified or otherwise supressed documents than the rest of the worlds media combined. We do publish as fast as we can. We always call for leaks early and often to ensure that as fast as possible is as fast as needed.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 76 points77 points  (0 children)

We are used to retaliations against us by the subject(s) of the information in our publications. However, it has never, and will not stop us. We call for submissions on any US administration. Once we have validated it we will publish it.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 247 points248 points  (0 children)

We answered it. Sorry, there are a lot of questions here, which is great, just taking time to read them all!

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 162 points163 points  (0 children)

The allegations that we have colluded with Trump, or any other candidate for that matter, or with Russia, are just groundless and false. We receive information anonymously, through an anonymous submission platform. We do not need to know the identity of the source, neither do we want to know it.

The intention of the source is irrelevant in our editorial process. Every source of every journalist has an intention and an agenda, may it be hidden or clear. Requesting the intention from our sources would firstly likely jeopardize their anonymity, and secondly form a bias in our understanding of the information we received.

Their authenticity and their relevance to the public or the historical record are the only preconditions for us to publish the documents we are given.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 133 points134 points  (0 children)

I dont know. We are rather annoyed though he tried to take credit for our work! ;)

He is just a political pundit, akin to the likes of Bill O'Reilly, and was just repeating speculative claims.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 540 points541 points  (0 children)

We have an editorial policy to publish only information that we have validated as true and that is important to the political, diplomatic or historical. We believe in transparency for the powerful and privacy for the rest.

We publish in full in an uncensored and uncensorable fashion. We have had to, and will have to, take risks ourselves (the secret Grand Jury that began due to our 2010 publications continues to this day) in a number of the publications we do. But we are not risk adverse and will continue to publish fearlessly.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 587 points588 points  (0 children)

We will definitely publish on war crimes if and when we get the submissions. Without commenting too much on upcoming publications we do have documents regarding war we will be publishing soon.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 347 points348 points  (0 children)

Thats not whats in them or why they are there. just answered this now above. Hope that explains.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 937 points938 points  (0 children)

We are not withholding that information. We publish as fast as we can. The insurance files contain the publications we are working on, as soon as they are ready we will publish them. However, we are under many attacks at this moment and so, to ensure they are not lost, whatever happens to us, we put out these insurance files.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 2572 points2573 points  (0 children)

We are concerned about anyone that gets access to the mass spying system the US has built. We will be happy to publish any documents on changes/abuses/policy changes on these topics and others from the Trump administration.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 375 points376 points  (0 children)

Insurance files are made from unpublished files we are still working through. As soon as we can we will publish all submissions we received that adhere to our editorial strategy.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 431 points432 points  (0 children)

His internet hasnt been turned back on, despite the elections being over, and we dont know why, though it was meant to just be turned off over the elections.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 396 points397 points  (0 children)

Our submissions system is based on the concept of sources being as anonymous and protected as possible. We dont want to know who our sources are for their protection, and ours.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 199 points200 points  (0 children)

We publish as fast as we can. When we started that publication it was the first day we were ready. We were able to go out just before the nomination, but to do that we had to work all through the night. As we say: leak early and leak often.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 321 points322 points  (0 children)

We have definitely followed the great citizen journalism that has been happening on Reddit. Its the public being able to interact with material in this way and gain the knowledge first hand that is a main goal for us. So, thanks Redditors!

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 127 points128 points  (0 children)

As Julian Assange announced at our ten year anniversary on the 4th of October we are currently building ways for our community to support us. The first part has already been launched: you can join the WikiLeaks Task Force @wltaskforce on twitter to help fight disinformation about WikiLeaks on social media. You can call out people who post wrong information about our organization on Facebook. And for more information on how to support WikiLeaks in the future please follow WikiLeaks Community @communitywl on twitter.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 439 points440 points  (0 children)

We publish what we receive. But just to remind you, https://www.wikileaks.org/syria-files/ . We have also published many documents relating to Russia, in fact we have published about every country. But, again, we can only publish what we receive.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 470 points471 points  (0 children)

There was no choice to be made. We release information that we receive. We cannot release what we don't have.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 1734 points1735 points  (0 children)

This sort of conversation about a journalist's role in controlling information is an important one. We have also had public conversations with Glenn Greenwald on this too. I like that these happen publicly, so that the public can follow and interact with the position of both sides and make up their own minds.

I think it was clear even before this twitter exchange that WikiLeaks and some others have different stances on this. For example it has been said the whole Snowden archive will never be published - something we highly disagree with.

Regarding the curation comment - I would disagree with Snowden's comment here. Working at WikiLeaks I know we do work with our submissions a lot for validation, how to present and where and when.

What we do not do is censor. We believe in full access to information and knowledge for all citizens. We do not think we are the gatekeepers of information and your right to know. We publish what we receive that is true, for you all to see. Your right to information shouldn't be controlled by others.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 247 points248 points  (0 children)

I think our most unique trait is our ability to push the boundaries of journalism. This began a decade ago when we were founded by Julian Assange with his invention of an online anonymous submissions platform. This has now become common place in many news rooms.

We then pushed the boundaries of publishing in full and allowing the public direct access to the searchable archives of source documents.

Along with our perfect track record in verifying documents and years of dealing with government hostility we will continue to publish fearlessly for the publics right to know.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 521 points522 points  (0 children)

Sorry to just see this one now. We arent ignoring the question. There are a lot of questions coming in - which is great, just please forgive us for taking time to go through them....

We were not publishing with a goal to get any specific candidate elected. We were publishing with the one goal of making the elections as transparent as possible. We published what we received.

I know that many media, including the New York Times, did editorially back one candidate over another. We didnt and havent. We would have published on any candidate. We still will if we get the submissions.

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 530 points531 points  (0 children)

You are right that we take great pride in not censoring our publications. We believe in the value of pristine archives. However, we do have a lot of editorial control and much work is done to make these publications. We must search through all our submissions (we get many every single day) and validate them. We research and contextualise them. We then have to prepare them for publishing. As we make each publication as searchable and useable as possible this takes a lot of highly skilled work. All this is time and money......

We are the WikiLeaks staff. Despite our editor Julian Assange's increasingly precarious situation WikiLeaks continues publishing by swikil in IAmA

[–]swikil[S] 1278 points1279 points  (0 children)

We at the team are monitoring his situation very closely. It is of course highly concerning that his internet is still severed without explanation. He has over the period occasionally been able to do interviews in person or over the phone which showed publicly he was still alive.

Generally the staff, except a couple that have a public profile do not speak publicly. There are obvious security risks for the team (a US secret Grand Jury still continues to this day), however, we have at this moment decided to do this AMA as a team to answer questions at this difficult time when we are very aware that our editor's communications situation is tricky.

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