wikileaks

[Hitokiri]

It's a bit of a duality there.

The media reports because it's out in the open anyway.
You can not mention it, but it's still out there, and it'll continue to stay out there.

Those who stole it have already been brought before justice.
But the spreading of it is in many countries not illegal at all.

Maybe this is a all a bit over the top, but so far what I've read about it all, many of these so called "secrets" are not really that secret.
Most of it is actually public knowledge.
It might be a bit embarrassing for the US but that's it really.

[Dr Frook]

I see it as handling of stolen property. I don't see why the media is exempt from prosecution when they knowingly are using material that is stolen. In any other situation, if you are taking stolen goods, and know about it, you will be treated in a similar way to the criminal who stole it in the first place. Freedom of the press is fine, but freedom to use stolen material is not. I say journalists need to face the consequences along with the original thieves. Maybe execute them as well, as a warning to others

death to all journalists!!!

[Hitokiri]

I fear you might have been in China too long.
When the information is made public, it's availlable.
Now in journalist terms, they are free to use it, in fact some see it as their duty as journalists to inform the people about that.

Now you may agree or disagree, but the stolen information has already gone global, so even as a journalist reports about it, he's running behind the facts, and it's not that he/she is making up a fully new story, simply reports on what is out there.

And yes, reporting to the general public of what is out there is one of the duties of journalists. Now we can discuss on how far they can go with that.
For example, I don't need to know what celebrity X did in a bar. But some think it's their duty to report on that too.