The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

In 1971 the most dangerous man in america was Daniel Ellsberg, simply because he had the power to tell the public the real truth about the Vietnam War. He had access to documents proving that the US government was lying about the progress of the war, telling the public that things were under control when they really weren't. So Ellsberg decided to act, even though he was risking going to jail, and released the Pentagon Papers to various media sources starting with The New York Times. This brave act did reveal the truth to the public, and they appeared to be shocked, for a little while anyway. That was until they decided to re-elect the same president who lied to them, Richard Nixon, and continue the war. The Vietnam War ended in 1975, just under a year after Nixon resigned. 

Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg didn't end up going to jail and still continues today to fight for truth from the government. The documentary "The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" covers his choice to act, and is the first time that I heard of this story. Now a similar thing is happening, classified information was leaked to the source Wikileaks, except this time it's from Bradley Manning. This courageous young soldier took top secret information and handed it over to Wikileaks. Manning, like Ellsberg, knew that he was risking jail by releasing this information but felt that the truth belonged to the public. Bradley Manning was arrested in May 2010 and is currently in solitary confinement at a military prison in Quantico, Virginia. Currently there are protestors, including Daniel Ellsberg, who are fighting to free Bradley Manning.

When the media obtains this information, I feel that they have a responsibility to pass it on to the public. People have the right to know what decisions their government is making, especially in the war. Whistleblowers today should be viewed as brave, yet they always are paying consequences that they shouldn't have to pay. They are losing their jobs and risking jail time by doing the right thing, the government just isn't be fair and facing up to their mistakes. One would think that owning up to your mistakes would be something you learned when you were five, apparently not. This is the same for telling the truth, why do people feel the need to lie to the public? It just makes them look like idiots when we find out the real truth. The media should always focus on telling the truth, whether that truth is in full or part. Any information that has be accessed and is considered valid should be shown to the public, even if it's obvious that the whole story isn't there. It's better to have a hint of information than to have nothing at all.