Fair Game

This week I finally got around to seeing Doug Liman’s new film “Fair Game” which chronicles the Valerie Plame Leak Case. I found it especially relevant in light of the recent scandal involving Wikileaks and the diplomatic cables. Our reading this week talks about the culture of journalism and the security of information and I think both of those things are being brought into question right now.
The first thing people are questioning is whether or not it is unethical for an organization like Wikileaks to expose information deemed “secret” by the US government. Now in the past, during the cold war let’s say, it probably would be unethical considering most secret information was indeed best kept secret i.e nuclear launch codes. But in recent years the designation “secret” has become so bloated that it’s hard to decipher what’s important and what is in fact bureaucratic bullshit. Thousands of government workers are granted the power to classify information “secret” and Millions more have the Clearance to read that information. It has been argued that classifying everything “secret” actually makes information less safe because it makes people cynical towards Government secrecy and therefore less concerned with keeping sensitive information out of the wrong hands. I have to agree with this argument; and circling back to the first question, is what Wikileaks did unethical? No. The way I see it, as long as they don’t expose information that will put others in harm’s way, whatever they want to put out there is fair game.
On the other hand, what Scooter Libby and Karl Rove did was not fair game. By Leaking Plame’s identity they not only endangered her and her family, but they enabled the murders of numerous assets that Plame Came in contact with in the line of duty, including nuclear scientists she was trying to Shepard out of Iraq. Their actions are a reflection of government’s “do as we say, not as we do” mentality and it has to stop.