WikiLeaks Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

The whistle-blowing website was nominated by a Norwegian politician. But does WikiLeaks deserve the nomination?

Transcript:
The Dalai Lama, President Barack Obama, and--WikiLeaks? A Norwegian politician has nominated the whistle-blowing website for the Nobel Peace Prize--for keeping governments transparent. The nomination has reignited the debate about what WikiLeaks is-- a useful journalistic tool, or a treasonous website?

We’re examining coverage of the nomination from Snorre Valen, The Daily Conversation, The Foreigner, and The Guardian.

Snorre Valen nominated WikiLeaks for the Peace Prize, and explains in his blog- the site has exposed corruption, war crimes, and other problems the public needs to know.

“Publishing material that is deemed classified by the government is an obvious right that newspapers and media have practiced for many, many decades...”

Does Wikileaks have what it takes to win the coveted Nobel Peace Prize? The Daily Conversation says yes--and then some.

“I would even take it a step further and say that it is the most important contributor to freedom of speech. We’ve seen its affects in Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, and all throughout the world, and there’s more to come.”

But some are skeptical of WikiLeaks’ chances of winning- mainly because of the rape allegation against founder Julian Assange in Sweden. The director of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo tells The Foreigner- Assange doesn’t stand a chance.

“He is too controversial, and the Wikileaks release has raised serious questions about the data security issue, as well as the availability of potentially-harmful information."

A writer for The Guardian says the Norwegian Nobel Committee has a history of nominating controversial figures. There are actually about 200 nominees each year -- and according to The Guardian -- it’s not that hard to get nominated.

“All that it requires is for someone to put your name forward who the Nobel committee considers suitable to make a nomination (a category that includes members of national parliaments and university professors). ...George Bush and Tony Blair were jointly nominated ...in 2002 and again in 2004.”

The winner will be announced in October. So, do you think WikiLeaks deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?