The publishing of 250,000 classified documents last week by whistleblower website wikileaks is a classic example of the conflict between principal and pragmatism.
As long as there has been secrets, there have been leaks.
What makes wikileaks different is how the internet allows leakers to bypass the mainstream media.
In the past, the only way for confidential information to be disseminated to the public was through the media.
Media organisations would and do, apply a “public interest” test to determine whether to publish classified information.
Essentially if leaked information was not deemed in the “public interest”, it is not published.
Wikileaks does not seem to apply such a test and appears to believe that leaked information, regardless of what it is, is worth of publication simply because it is secret.
What is the benefit, for example, of releasing the social security numbers of US soldiers?
When asked by the New Yorker, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said the social security numbers may one day be of use to researchers investigating wrongdoings and therefore should be made public.
This reasoning can be used to justify the release of any information because there is a possibility that any information may one day be of use in uncovering wrongdoings.
Last year, wikileaks published the results of a 2004 US Army test of a device designed to prevent roadside bombs exploding.
I’m not sure what Mr Assange’s justification for publishing this was, but to me, the risk of serving soldiers being killed or wounded would outweigh some hypothetical possibility that the information may one day uncover some wrongdoing.
As a journalist and an idealist, I believe, almost as an article of faith, that the public has a right to information relating to acts done by governments in its name.
Sunlight, as they say, is the best disinfectant.
But to argue that government defence, intelligence and diplomatic agencies can operate effectively when every internal piece of communication is made public is preposterous.
To use a simple example, imagine the affect a 'leak' of the exact location and timing of the d-day landings in 1944 would have had on the outcome of WWII.
No two warring countries could ever make peace if every utterance of, and deal offered by, diplomats was made public.
That something is secret is not, in and of itself, justification for publication.
This is not to say that governments and other organisations have the right to be free of scrutiny, or that the public has no right to know what is being done in its name, but governments like people, sometimes need to keep secrets for the greater good.
This is something that Mr Assange does not seem to understand.
What do you think, was wikileaks wrong to publish the information, or am I simply upset that they are bypassing the mainstream media of which I am a part?