In September, Gallup released poll results on the level of trust that Americans have in the media. According to the poll, only 32% of Americans said they have “a great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in Mass Media. The report notes that this number has fallen 8 points from last year.
This is in sharp contrast to a poll conducted by YouGov, that found 41% of Americans had a favorable opinion of WikiLeaks, while only 29% held unfavorable opinions.
Since its founding, WikiLeaks has been responsible for a number of high-profile revelations concerning the US war in Afghanistan, conditions for detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and most recently, candidates running for political office. Because most of WikiLeaks’ information is obtained illicitly, this last point has brought the impact of hacking on modern American elections and politics to the forefront of public attention.
WikiLeaks is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange, an online activist from Australia. Only three people aside from Assange – Kristinn Hrafnsson, Joseph Farrell, and Sarah Harrison – are known to be affiliated with WikiLeaks. The rest of its network shrouded in secrecy. Assange himself currently resides in London, United Kingdom, but he is stranded – indefinitely – in the Embassy of Ecuador in the UK, with London police under orders to arrest him if he ever emerges onto English soil.
