by Larry McNerney

Created on: July 26, 2010   Last Updated: July 27, 2010

The current "wikileaks" media coverage borders on treason.  If there is a law that is for a crime a little less serious than treason, then those who gave the media the documents that delineate the Afghanistan War over the last six years should be prosecuted.

It is not Woodward and Bernstein, it is not governmental malfeasance, these are classified documents that give joy to the enemy.  They cast America in an unfavorable light for the purpose of selling newspapers, magazines, and internet space and advertising.   Journalistic integrity has to do with ethics.  This leak, this jumping on the band wagon by the press, both foreign and domestic, has reduced the journalistic entities to whores, who sell anything they have to the highest bidder.  They have done so in order to have their bylines on prominent articles.

Journalism was once thought of as an honorable profession.  I once looked up to writers with talent who made the "news" interesting, informative and educated the public.  Today it's about fame.  It's about feeling important, there is no attempt at integrity.  "Look at what I know, and here, take a closer look, meet me in a dark alley and we'll have a real good time, honey."

Woodward and Bernstein had a sense of the theatrical, and they knew an important story.  It was necessary for the public to be aware of the insanity of the Nixon Administration.  He was the President, and he and his henchmen did not have the right to hide behind the Government of the United States.  The book, "All the President's Men" was an important American record of a very evil era of our political life, and it caused the President's departure from the Oval Office.  Results were valid, the reporting was accurate and it was necessary for the American people to realize they had been duped.

Afghanistan and the United States are losing lives on a daily basis, due to the Taliban and Al-Queada, and there is a moral line that shall not be crossed.  We are a nation at war and good men and women are dying.  It is never necessary, it is never acceptable, to earn money that is strictly for profits, strictly for fame and the currency used is classified governmental information.

There are better ways to earn money.  Prostitution is an honest profession, you get what you pay for.  Return engagements happen when there is value given for money paid.  The reporters, journalistic entities, and just plain folks involved in this transaction are people of little talent and shoddy attire.  No self- respecting John would head back to this street-corner, this alley with no streetlamps.  The game is up, you are under arrest, and your bail shall be steep.

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