In final phase of Bradley Manning trial, a defense of Wikileaks

[xeni]

Charlie Savage at the New York Times covers proceedings in the court-martial of PFC Bradley Manning at Ft. Meade, on the day the defense rested its case. The final witness for the defense was Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler, who said WikiLeaks served a legitimate journalistic role when Manning leaked some 700,000 or more secret… READ THE REST

[Ygret]

I read the entire transcript of Benkler’s testimony last night. He was totally kick-ass. Very smart, he shut down the prosecutor on every point, and Coombs was totally on it when the prosecutor attempted to portray Benkler as strongly partisan instead of the objective and honest fellow he is. It was extremely clear that if Wikileaks aren’t journalists, then neither are the WaPo, NYTimes, or anyone else.