That "WikiLeaks has divulged nothing new" has become, in the last 8 months, a refrain within officialdom and the mainstream press.
Those who have been following the events for themselves know otherwise. So numerous are the valuable public interest disclosures facilitated by WikiLeaks that to encapsulate them can sometimes seem a daunting task.
Here, though, are five efforts by prominent journalists and organizations to do just that. The five posts here serve as digests of the last year's WikiLeaks news, selected according to personal assessment of newsworthiness and salience. They are a valuable resource for anyone who wants to ascertain for him or herself whether it is true that "WikiLeaks told us nothing new."
The Nation: Greg Mitchell: Why WikiLeaks Matters
The Nation's Greg Mitchell is by now one of the key names in WikiLeaks coverage. His WikiLeaks live blog has been a fixture since late November for anyone wanting to keep abreast of the news on WikiLeaks. He has also written a book on WikiLeaks' activities since April 2009, which will be available soon. In this post, Mitchell compiled, from his own archive, a huge list of valuable points of information WikiLeaks brought to the public eye.
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Rainey Reitman: The Best of Cablegate: Instances Where Public Discourse Benefited from the Leaks
This post by Rainey Reitman lists "a small selection of cables that [have] been critical to understanding and evaluating controversial events." Among the revelations overviewed are the DYNCORP "dancing boy" scandal, and the misuse of the U.S. diplomatic corp to fix contracts and law reform for big business. Valuable commentary is provided for each entry.
CBS News: Joshua Norman: How WikiLeaks Enlightened Us in 2010
This excellent piece by Joshua Reitman on CBS' "World Watch" breaks down noteworthy Cablegate revelations by state. A comprehensive and valuable collection of news headlines.
Salon: Glenn Greenwald: What WikiLeaks revealed to the world in 2010
Glenn Greenwald at Salon is a tireless writer on the subject of WikiLeaks. He has a formidable ability to dig up old news to give context to today's headlines - serving often as the institutional memory journalism seems to have lost. Greenwald here collects the headlines from 2010, sets them beside each other, and lets the argument develop itself. Res Ipsa Loquitur.
Huffington Post: Vince Warren: WikiLeaks and Democracy
Taking issue specifically with claims that WikiLeaks has exposed nothing new, Vince Warren develops a counterargument with reference to actual cables and source materials released by WikiLeaks. The collection of references is couched in a valuable discussion of the fundamental commitments of democracy, and the role of journalistic organizations like WikiLeaks in this.