WikiLeaks Shifting Media Balance of Power

WikiLeaks' document dumps are pushing old media into a new role, a Politico analysis finds. Papers like the Guardian and the New York Times—which was left out of the latest round of leaks after publishing a profile critical of Julian Assange—are starting to work together across borders to act as conduits for material gained by others. Such collaboration is unprecedented in journalism, experts note.

A "new balance of power" is emerging, says an NYU professor, pointing to a Times request for WikiLeaks to keep harmful documents under wraps. "In the revised picture we find the state, which holds the secrets but is powerless to prevent their release; the stateless news organization, deciding how to release them; and the national newspaper in the middle, negotiating the terms of legitimacy between these two actors.”