2011-03-29 'This Week in WikiLeaks' Podcast - Guest @WLLegal Talks Legal Issues Raised by #WikiLeaks [Update:1]

Update: Complete edited podcast is now posted for listen and download

Last week, “This Week in WikiLeaks” took the week off. The host Kevin Gosztola participated in a WikiLeaks panel at the Left Forum in New York City. I appeared with Danny Schechter, who can be found at MediaChannel.org.

The panel looked at what has been revealed by WikiLeaks and had extra significance as it happened right around the eighth anniversary of the Iraq War. Audio of my presentation and Schechter’s presentation will be posted as a podcast episode soon.

Regular scheduled programming resumed last weekend. The show’s guest was Trevor Timm, the person behind the Twitter account @WLLegal. Timm recently helped to make possible a great Personal Democracy Forum event called, “WikiLeaks & the Law.” [Go here for video of the full panel.]

The podcast is now edited and can be listened to by clicking on the widget below:

You can also listen to and download the podcast here. And, it can be found on iTunes by searching for "CMN News" and then the WikiLeaks podcast will appear.

Timm and I talked about some of the legal issues raised by WikiLeaks. I’ll open the conversation by asking Timm what he thinks are the key issues raised by WikiLeaks and how people are responding to WikiLeaks.

We then talked about legal questions that rise from the government being able to make a distinction between who is and is not a journalist (if they would seek to claim or assert such an authority).

We got into a discussion about issues raised by private entities choosing to not let organizations like WikiLeaks use their services because they push legal boundaries and/or make the state uncomfortable.

Following the interview, CMN News correspondents Chris Novembrino and Jordan Williams were brought to continue the conversation.

And now for a few plugs: WL Central is doing excellent coverage of all the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. If you haven't been keeping up with what is happening, check the front page for updates on various countries.

I helped Greg Mitchell put together the first chapter of his new book, Bradley Manning: Truth and Consequences. It's his 2nd book on the WikiLeaks story and was published as an e-book here and in print here this week. It is currently the only book on Manning.

I also help Mitchell keep up his WikiLeaks blog at The Nation, which has been going strong for nearly 120 days.

All material used in the opening introduction is covered by fair use. The music is from Freeplaymusic.com.

Any ideas for future guests? Shoot me a message on Twitter or to my email, which is kgosztola@hotmail.com.