Dear (Old) Carl

Carl Bernstein said the whistleblowing organisation [Wikileaks], which has released millions of confidential documents including military operation records, had “done some very useful things” but also acted in a “careless” way.

The former Washington Post reporter, who helped expose the political scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon as US president, also insisted that the best journalism was achieved by talking to people, and not through social media.

He said: “I think that today, too many people are not interested in the best attainable version of the truth. They’re really interested in information that will buttress what they already believe. Ammunition for their political beliefs that they already hold.

  Guardian

I, myself, am old. But I recognize that people have always been interested in information that will buttress what they already believe. This is not a modern development.

“I think WikiLeaks has done some very useful things. I also think they’ve been reckless at times by putting information out without trying to protect individuals who work in intelligence.

“By and large I think the more information that gets out there, the better. But I do think WikiLeaks has, at times, been careless.”

[...]

“Real reporting is not easy. Real reporting, which is about the best attainable version of the truth, [is] what you see in Spotlight. It’s about knocking on doors. It’s about what you see the Guardian did in covering Murdoch in terms of hacking."

"[G]great reporting is being done is by using the old techniques of talking to people."

[...]

“You can go online and you can use Google to get some information that you once got at the public library, but you’re not going to get the story on Google, you’re not going to get it on Twitter. We did it by talking people.”

Well, Carl, "great reporting" is not the purpose of Wikileaks. "The story" isn't their aim. Their aim is to put it ALL out there. There is a faction - perhaps a very large one - that believes nothing should be secret. Reckless maybe, but that's who Wikileaks is. That's what they do. It's not "reporting" they're after. If you want to take on the lack of great reporting, take on the journalists. Wikileaks is not a journalistic endeavor.

And, why can't you get the story on Google?  I can.  I can get every publication imaginable on Google.  As long as there's net neutrality.  Come on, Carl.  You did a good thing when you were a reporter.  No one can take that away from you.  But that was then.  This is now.  The government has so many more secrets and so many more devious ways to keep them.  You and I are old, but we can keep up as best we can.  Try to keep an open mind.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.