The Walkley Award (Australia) has been bestowed on WikiLeaks for “its outstanding contribution to journalism” through its “courageous reporting” of secret US cables.
The trustees of the Walkley Awards said: “WikiLeaks applied new technology to penetrate the inner workings of government to reveal an avalanche of inconvenient truths in a global publishing coup.”
Its revelations, from the way the war on terror was being waged, to diplomatic bastardry, high-level horse-trading and the interference in the domestic affairs of nations, have had an undeniable impact.”
Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, lashed out at the Australian government for not doing enough to protect him in the aftermath of the revelations.. While accepting the award, he called Julia Gillard a cowardly prime minister. He said: “Australian journalists are courageous, the Australian population is supportive, but Julia Gillard is a cowardly Australian prime minister.”
Assange who is in UK and fighting an order for extradition to Sweden to face charges of sexual assault, denied the allegations and said that the charges were motivated and linked to the revelations made by WikiLeaks.
Tags: Julian Assange WikiLeaks