Wikileaks Relies on Old-fashioned Tactics

By Alex Bigham, associate manager, London

Commentators and practitioners in the media tend to fall into the trap of “neophilia” – an obsession with shiny, new things. We should remember when looking at emerging trends in “new” media that they often rely on some fairly old-fashioned methods. At the heart of this week’s leak of the classified documents on Afghanistan is what makes any coverage a story: a good investigative piece of journalism with plenty of colour.

Wikileaks isn’t afraid of using techniques to exploit the mainstream media either – giving embargoed access to a number of media outlets on the promise that they would only publish when everything was released online. The story was deliberately placed Sunday for Monday to maximise coverage through the rest of the week in a time-honoured tradition of PR practitioners.

The site also relies on donations and free legal support from mainstream media organisations such as Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. Julian Assange, who founded the site in 2006, has acquired something of a loveable rebel status in the media with profile pieces building the story in the run up to its publication.

One of the elements that is new about the site is its reliance on a dispersed server network. With machines in several countries such as Sweden and Belgium, Wikileaks is able to evade prosecution – for now – thanks to laws in those countries providing greater freedom for public disclosures.

With the release of the Afghan documents, Wikileaks has its biggest story so far. But what does it plan to do next? Having decided to publish the allegations against Trafigura on a toxic dumping incident off the coast of Cote d’Ivoire and with a febrile atmosphere in the air after the BP spill, does Wikileaks now have the corporate sector in its sights?