Norwegian Newpaper gets its hands on WikiLeaks cables (All 250,000)

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Herald Sun

A NORWEGIAN Norwegian newspaper confirmed today that it had gotten hold of the entire file of more than 250,000 secret US embassy cables first leaked to WikiLeaks.

Norway's main business newspaper Dagens Naerings reported that Oslo-based Aftenposten became the only media organization in the world to gain direct access to all the documents. It allows them to dodge WikiLeaks' current strategy of drip-feeding the cables to preferred partners The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel and El Pais.

WikiLeaks has so far chosen to publish fewer than two thousand of the 251,287 cables. But its tight control on the release of further documents has been undermined by the Norwegian leak.

Aftenposten news editor Ole Erik Almlid told Dagens Naerings: "We're free to do what we want with these documents … We're free to publish the documents or not publish the documents, we can publish on the internet or on paper. We are handling these documents just like all other journalistic material to which we have gained access."

Read more: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/norwegian-newpaper-gets-its-hands-on-wikileaks-cables/story-e6frf7jx-1225975270507

[Turborama]

1. So... WikiLeaks has a leak?

The winner of "The Most Ironic Thing To Happen In 2010"?

[JackRiddler]

4. Not really.

Ironic, I mean. I think everyone involved understands that this sort of thing is inevitable.

I'd think it more likely the Norwegians got it from one of the papers.

[Turborama]

8. The papers don't have it, that's the point

WikiLeaks have been holding their cards really close to their chest on this one and have been drip feeding the papers with cables. It can only have come from someone at WikiLeaks.

[Luminous Animal]

9. People keep saying that the papers don't have the cables even though the papers say they do.

"The US embassy cables
Editor's note: publishing the cables

In a third such exercise, WikiLeaks has given the Guardian prior access to around 250,000 state department cables

The articles published today and over coming weeks are drawn from US state department cables which were sent earlier this year to WikiLeaks, an organisation devoted to exposing secrets of all kinds. The Guardian is one of five publications around the world which has had prior access to the material – around 250,000 cables in all – on condition that we observed common deadlines over the timings of release. The others are the New York Times, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/editors-note-wikileaks-embassy-cables

The NY Times received access to all 250,000+ cables via the Guardian.

[Turborama]

10. "Prior access"

If it's unlimited access and they can copy all 251,287 and do what they like with them then I retract what I said.

If it's limited and restricted access, then the fact remains that WikiLeaks are drip feeding them.

[JackRiddler]

23. Well, if Wikileaks at any point gave them access to all 251,287...

no matter under what conditions, this amounts (inevitably, if not immediately) to a full release.

[Turborama]

30. Actually, the conditions are relevant

As can be seen with the "Insurance" file, those guys are geniuses at encryption.

They can heavily restrict the manner the "prior access" was given. They do not say they have taken ownership of them, they have just had "prior access". It is an important distinction.

[Ruperto31]

22. "...on condition that we observed common deadlines over the timings of release."

That's the point that everyone in this thread seems to be missing. The Norwegian newspaper is not a party to this deal between Wikileaks and the Guardian and other selected newspapers. So the paper can undermine the dramatic effect of slow release building to a climax, by releasing the juiciest stuff in a big bang. Then, after a few news cycles, readers will yawn and ask, "What else is new?"

[girl gone mad]

24. I think you are misunderstanding the condition.

According to the New York Times, this agreement was made "to avoid a stampede that would make for sloppy journalism and increase the risk of publishing something dangerous", and to allow the government more time to make redactions, not to create extra drama and anticipation.

Why is it necessary to impugn Wikileaks by implying their motivation for a timed release is entirely self-promotional? Yet you infer that this Norwegian paper has wholly pure intentions and would not be compelled to profit from their cache - perhaps even putting this desire to profit above the safety of individuals named in these cables - unlike Wikileaks' more cautious approach?

Please. Pure naivety on your part.

[Arctic Dave]

14. Or very smart on WL part.

If they post anything will the US indict the for espionage?

[24601]

18. You don't need to indict for espionage - any original charges or

potential charges don't have to be related to follow-on aspects like obstruction of justice or even lying while not even under oath. In fact, there is a recent case with a March 2007 conviction that proves this point precisely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_Libby

[JackRiddler]

2. Mistake in story: NYT is not a Wikileaks partner.

They got access through The Guardian and have produced by far the most spun coverage of the less than 100 cables they cherry-picked, aiming for a parallel universe where Iran is not just the target for the next aggressive war but a dire threat and the US spy corps, erm, diplomats are all doing the Lord's work.

[Turborama]

5. Yes, and the NYT did not link to any of the cables or Guardian articles

The NYT's coverage isn't worth the bandwidth it's being transmitted on.

[kgnu_fan]

15. NYT is a Wikileaks partner, just a weak and coward one... that is all

I hope they grow some tough bones....

[Wickerman]

3. "We are handling these documents like all other journalistic material to which we have access to"

says it all, I believe.

[Blue Owl]

6. Norwegian Newspaper Suspended Following Sudden Rape Charge

Tomorrow's headline?

[Blue_Tires]

7. Can't wait to see what's in them....

and here's hoping Wikileaks drops that bank bomb sooner rather than later...

[kgnu_fan]

11. All partner newspapers do have all 250K cables but they are working through cables carefully and

Wikileaks is publishing what has been published by those partners on their own site. In another words, Wikileaks itself is not dictating what will be published by partners newspapers, therefore readers can judge which newspapers are doing better job etc. At least that is how I understand their original arrangements. Original newspapers were imposed on "embargo" agreement until the certain date...

Now a Norwegian newspaper outside of the original "partnership" getting the access to it all...it is an interesting development because Wikileaks is not going to be carrying all the weight. Wikileaks may be adding more newspaper outlet collaborators for the future release... Interesting.....

[Turborama]

12. They have "access" to them, apparently

However, we don't know how restricted that "access" is.

[kgnu_fan]

13. I think this new "partner" has recieved the same access as previous partners.

More newspapers maybe added to this configuration of "world journalism of facts and evidence".

[girl gone mad]

16. Yes we do.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26875/?p1=MstEml&a=f

What news organizations have access to the diplomatic cables and how did they get them?

According to the Associated Press, Wikileaks gave four news organizations (Le Monde, El Pais, The Guardian and Der Spiegel) all 251,287 classified documents before anything was released to the public. The Guardian subsequently shared its trove with The New York Times.

So have all 251,287 documents been released to the public?

No. Each of the five news organizations is hosting the text of at least some of the documents in various forms with or without the relevant metadata (country of origin, classification level, reference ID). The Guardian and Der Spiegel have performed analyses of the metadata of the entire trove, excluding the body text. The Guardian's analysis is available for download from its website.

Wikileaks itself has released (as of December 7, 2010) 960 documents out of the total 251,287. The Associated Press has reported that Wikileaks is only releasing cables in coordination with the actions of the five selected news organizations. Julian Assange made similar statements in an interview with Guardian readers on December 3, 2010. Cables are being released daily as the five news organizations publish articles related to the content.

Is each of the five news organizations hosting all the documents that Wikileaks has released?

No. Each of the five news organizations hosts a different selection of the released documents, in different forms, which may or may not overlap. It's not clear how much they're coordinating on releasing new documents, since each appears to have a full set and normally newspapers would be eager to scoop one another.

How are the five news organizations releasing the cables?

Le Monde has created an application, developed in conjunction with Linkfluence, that hosts the searchable text of several hundred cables. The text can be searched by the sender (country of origin, office or official), date range, persons of interest cited in the docs, classification status, or any combination of the above. Only the untranslated, English text of the cables can be accessed and cut-and-paste is not available.

El Pais offers access to more than 200 cables, available in the original English or in Spanish translation, searchable by country of origin and key terms and subjects (such as "Google and China"). These searches also return El Pais articles written on a given subject, often placed ahead of the cables in the search listings. The paper also offers a "How to read a diplomatic cable" feature, explaining what all the abbreviations and technical verbiage mean in plain speak, posted on November 28, 2010.

The Guardian offers the cable data in several forms: It has performed an analysis of metadata of the entire 251,287-document trove, and made it available in several forms (spreadsheets hosted on Google Docs and in downloadable form) as well as infographics.

The Norwegian paper now has the same information that Le Monde, El Pais, The Guardian, Der Spiegel and the New York Times have. I doubt they know what to do with it on their own.

[Turborama]

17. Thanks for that

The last paragraph about the Guardian says:

"It has performed an analysis of metadata of the entire 251,287-document trove, and made it available in several forms (spreadsheets hosted on Google Docs and in downloadable form) as well as infographics."

That makes it sound like we can download everything from The Guardian's site, which of course we can't.

Also, "each appears to have a full set" isn't actually verification that they do.

[Poll_Blind]

19. Per a letter sent by the U.S. govt. to WikiLeaks, I was under the impression that ALL...

...participating newspapers (NYT, El Pais, Der Speigel, Le Monde, The Guardian) had access to all the cables, unencrypted and unredacted. The letter the U.S. govt. sent (sorry don't have a copy but it was posted to DU and I commented on this aspect of it at the time) specifically states that interviews with NYT, The Guardian, and Der Spiegel confirm that they have access to the full set.

Sorry I can't bring up the letter at the moment, but that's what it appeared to indicate.

PB

[bengalherder]

20. More likely to be a leak at one of the publishing papers.

Perhaps some of that Norweigan-Swedish rivalry going on.

Perhaps a brilliant move by wikileaks to clear the table for the second course: BoA.

[freshwest]

21. tusen takk

[glinda]

25. I am confused. This is weird.

[bemildred]

26. No, the OP is confused, or somebody is confused, but it's not you. nt

[mudplanet]

27. Leaks, leaked: Norway publication claims to have complete ‘cablegate’ archive

Source: Raw Story

Less than 1 percent of the whole 250,000 cable archive has been released, to date.

But that may be about to change.

An editor with Aftenposten, a news service in Norway, told Dagens Naerings, the country's main business newspaper, that they'd come into possession of the complete archive, according to late-breaking reports Wednesday afternoon.

"We're free to do what we want with these documents,"

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/leaks-leaked-norway-publication-claims-complete-cablegate-archive/

---

Hopefully, some good stuff on banks

[dipsydoodle]

28. Duplicate LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4670033

[lunatica]

29. My question is how did they get this access?

Right off the bat they're holding something back. Is that some kind of new journalistic integrity there?