Assignment On The acts of Wiki-Leaks

Name

Introduction
The acts of Wiki-Leaks from the year 2006 to 2010 can be discussed under two definitions in
correspondence with a functionalist democratic setup. Many experts believe that release of
the classified information brings them under the category of a “whistleblower,” whereas the
other school of thoughts considers it as “propaganda machinery.” Under this debate when an
expert considers Wiki-Leaks as propaganda machinery then it leads to the statement that
says” acts of the Wiki-Leaks” are deviant in nature and they can be considered as an attempt
to develop an anti-trust among the masses.
The role of Wiki-leaks in a functionalist democratic setup
A functionalist democratic setup defines the interconnected nature of various government and
non-government agencies. These agencies work under the rules of a constitution working as
the regulatory body, together with the force related to the administration, politicians and
media form an establishment to conduct the day-to-day affairs of the masses. Media holds the
status of being the fourth pillar of democracy because it raises the voice of the
underprivileged sections of society (Osrecki, 2014, p. 340).
Wiki-leaks also tried to act under the capacity of the fourth pillar when they released a
classified document. However, their intentions of the reporting were unclear; they were not
synchronization with other three bodies of a functionalist democratic setup. In the
terminology of the administration, we can also say that Wiki-leaks overlapped the line of
“good faith” and this is one the reasons that we can term it as deviant behavior under the
spirit of democracy.
The case of “love parade tragedy document release” and “Iraq War logs” are evidence. Wiki-
leaks released the documents created by the planning commission and claimed about

probable negligence (Thomas, 2011). The notorious case of “Iraq War logs” also discusses
the atrocities and negligence of US forces in Iraq. When we check the details of both these
release in a functionalist democratic setup then we find that Love Parade case is a breach of
media standards because in this case, Wiki-leaks released some documents that were the part
of processing. A final outcome can be challenged. Processing is a phase of trial and error.
Let’s assume that in the case of Love Parade, certain human negligence took place, however,
it never gives us proof that the intention of the authorities was malafied. Wiki-leaks also
failed in producing evidence of corruption.
The case of “Iraq War logs” is even more sensitive. Wiki-leaks claimed that more than
15,000 victims faced the atrocities, however, we never heard about a single case in
International courts even after the restoration of normalcy in Iraq (Davies, 2010).
Conclusion
The acts of Wiki-leaks are deviant in a functionalist democratic setup, moreover, they are
“anti-establishment” acts propagated with intent to publicize propaganda to harm the
reputation of the institutes that are running the democracy. Wiki-leaks broke the unwritten
code of secrecy which is essential for administrative services. In the case of “Iraq war logs”
many senior military experts lamented that Wiki breached the codes of war reporting and
after sharing the details they brought all the soldiers in the zone of vulnerability. This
behavior is deviant, every statement can change its meaning in different reference and
contexts, a suspicion raised by a German officer during the stage of planning may have a
different meaning a few years later when we read it after a major incident. Wiki-leaks failed
in presenting the proper reference and contexts of the document. This confirms the fact that
their intentions were more inclined towards the establishment of conspiracy theories. This

intention also confirms that the acts of Wiki-leaks were deviant with an anti-establishment
undertone.

References
Davies, N. (2010). Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture. The Guardian ,
(Online) Available at :https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-
military-leaks. Accessed 10-08-19.
Osrecki, F. (2014). Fighting corruption with transparent organizations: Anti-corruption and
functional deviance in organizational behavior. ephemera, (Online) Available
at :http://www.ephemerajournal.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/contribution/15-
2osrecki_0.pdf. Accessed 10-08-19.
Thomas, B. (2011). Wikileaks and the Question of Responsibility within a Global
Democracy. (Online) Available At,European view ,
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1007/s12290-011-0170-6. Accessed 10-08-
19.