WikiLeaks comes up with more 'leaks'

WikiLeaks has come up with more shocking revelations: this time about the war in Iraq. Earlier it had leaked classified military documents about the war in Afghanistan. The whistle-blowing had generated a good deal of debate but things settled down within weeks. But the role of media in stoking the flames of war or opposing war has yet to be debated.

The mainstream media in the United States has always been accused of working in collusion with the establishment in the interest of military-industrial complex. Militaries across the world thrive on war, while industries see a boom in their production when wars are fought irrespective of the human cost. Media by its very nature had been--and still is--a thorn in the side of war-mongers.

Since democracies have to first sell a policy, be it war or more taxes, to the public before taking a final decision, media has always mattered--both for the common people and those at the helm of affairs.

To control the public opinion, it is necessary to control the mass media. But how can it occur in a democracy? Without a free press, democracy is meaningless. Therefore, the only way-out is to make media an ally of the military-industrial complex. Cross-media ownership and the emergence of conglomerates solved the problem: media became part of the industry and the audience became passive consumers. The watchdog became the lapdog. A nexus between the three, military, industry and media, emerged whose interests overlap on several levels. Their only adversary is a vigilant and informed citizenry who now are narcotized by a surfeit of entertainment. War has become a sports and sports, a war courtesy the mass media.

That is the reason that the mainstream media in the U.S. always 'break' the news when the damage had already been done. The New York Times 'built' a case for attack on Iraq in 2003 by 'breaking' news about Saddam's nuclear designs and his close ties to Al-Qaida. Then Foreign Secretary, Colin Powel, went to the U.N. Security Council for sanctioning war against Iraq. He had built the case on the bases of media reports, which, after Iraq was bombed, defeated and occupied, were conveniently denied. But nobody asked about the repercussions of first giving half truths--or total lies--and then revealing the truth.

WikiLeaks are nothing but false hopes of having a free media.