Business Ethics Memo, Research Paper Example

Wikileakes is a website that has published information and documents from anonymous donors regarding corporate, religious and government secrets. This high-profile whistle blower has caused much chaos and potential security risks to nations across the world. Surprisingly, Wikileakes has found a number of supporters; one being the Harvard Business Review. In their article titled “How Wikileakes Matters”, the author believes that organizations such as Wikileakes are needed to remove the gaping disclosure gaps within organizations. The Harvard Business Review claims that the scandal of hidden secrets (i.e. corporate corruption) is far greater than the whistle-blower disclosures of Wikileakes (Haque, 2010).

In contrast however, is an article in The Washington Post titled “Wikileakes Must Be Stopped” by Marc Thiessen. Thiessen believes that Wikileakes is not a beneficial resource to America at all but is simply a criminal organization. Thiessen cites the whistle-blower as possible violation to the Espionage Act and supports not only the shutting down of the website but also criminal charges filed against the leader, Julian Assange (Thiessen, 2010). The primary reason for Thiessen’s support of Wikileakes’ demise is to prevent countries and their intelligences from refusing to cooperate with the United States in the future.

While both these articles have valid points, the importance of the Communications and Media class is to assist future media professionals in ascertaining all the facts, preventing bias and judgment and to recognize that although people and organizations may differ in opinions, both sides can have valid and significant facts to support their positions.

References

Thiessen, M. (2010), December 10). WikiLeaks Must Be Stopped. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 15, 2011, from web: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/02/AR2010080202627.html

Haque, U. (2010), December 10). How Wikileakes Matters. Bloomberg Weekly. Retrieved June 15, 2011, from http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/dec2010/ca20101210_492854.htm