There are growing fears in America that journalism itself is under threat by the trial of Bradley Manning, the US Army Private who released thousands of documents to WikiLeaks.

In closing arguments in Manning’s military trial, prosecutors claimed Manning sent some 700,000 classified government documents to WikiLeaks to somehow achieve fame. 

Major Ashden Fein described WIkiLeaks as “a bunch of anti-government activists and anarchists,” and claimed Manning had “pulled as much information as possible to please Julian Assange.”

What was released on WikiLeaks was embarrassing to the United States, including:  Video of the 12 July 2007 Baghdad Airstrike in which US forces mistakenly targeted unarmed journalists, killing 18 people;  The 4 May 2009 Grannai Airstrike, another misadventure in Afghanistan in which 147 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed;  internal memos showing that many Guantanamo Bay detainees were not dangerous.

But prosecutors are also claiming that manning knew that what he revealed to WikiLeaks would be read by people who did not have America’s best interests at heart – and according to them, that’s “aiding the enemy”.  Manning is in danger of life in prison, or perhaps even the death penalty.

“The idea that you can execute someone for an offense that had no element of intent or even specified effect, or that you can face life in prison or death simply from informing an enemy or potential enemy in the process of informing fellow citizens for their benefit is potentially a lethal blow to the First Amendment or freedom of speech and the press,” says Daniel Ellsberg, the former intelligence specialist who four decades earlier released the Pentagon papers.

“You can’t inform the public of wrongdoing by your government without informing the world.”