The New York Times vs. Assange

The New York Times's weekend magazine article, “Dealing with Assange and the Wikileaks Secrets,” by Bill Keller, The Times’s executive editor, is a delicious, dishy apologia for the newspaper's handling of Wikileaks information released last year about the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables.

It is also a fascinating take (from one point of view, as all takes are) on how journalism continues to be as relevant as ever – in fact, even more necessary – to interpret the huge amount of information now available via the Internet in today’s tell-all culture.

Another observation I offer about journalism relates to its threatened future funding. I was so entertained by the Keller article that I purchased for $5.99 The Times’s e-book: Open Secrets -- WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy: Complete and Expanded Coverage from The New York Times.

My conclusions: Content is still king. Analyzed information (intelligence) is more valuable than information. Dishing always outdraws boring facts.