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A Cablegate Scrapbook

First impressions.

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1. At its height at the time the leaks started coming out, neither 'cablegate' nor 'wikileaks' were listed as trending topics on Twitter. Some people suggested 'wikileaks' was not listed because it's the name of a Twitter account. But 'cablegate' was going blazes and running circles about the 'beliebers' and it still wasn't listed in most areas. It took several days for that to happen, all the while TTs were not being updated at all in some regions.

2. Both Swedish tabloids ran with the same story and put it atop the home page - this in contrast to Collateral Murder, Afghan War Diaries, and Iraq War Logs. Tabloids love their sleaze. The headlines said 'US scorning world's top leaders' and 'Clinton asked diplomats to collect DNA and fingerprints'. This is from a deep link at Aftonbladet.

3. The El País banner, quoting the cables in their descriptions of world leaders. El País contributed to the preparation of Cablegate.

4. Sweden's egregious Aftonbladet, the tabloid Julian Assange was to write for so long ago. The tack here is the same as for Expressen: sleaze sells (but important facts do not). The headline is essentially the same as Expressen's as well.

5. The Guardian's excellent portal. Alan Rusbridger's Guardian gets more and more outstanding for each day, their coverage of Cablegate totally top drawer, their work a good argument for why trained journalists are still needed in this Internetted age.

6. Sweden's obsequious Expressen, the tabloid that strained to get their biggest scoop ever (Assange in Sweden) out into the world on the morning of 21 August. The tack here is the same as for Aftonbladet: sleaze sells (but important facts do not). The headline is essentially the same as Aftonbladet's as well. The headline is narrow as Aftonbladet's because the pages are filled to over 80% with advertisements.

7. Spiegel Online's guide to the embassy cables in German. Spiegel have also done an excellent job on Cablegate and published many of their articles in English.

8. Kristinn Hrafnsson on CNN. The WikiLeaks editor responded convincingly to the same old same old.

9. Home page of the LA Times. See if you can find the mention of Cablegate.

10. Top of the Le Monde website. Pictured is the US embassy in Berlin. The Le Monde editors were part of the preparations for Cablegate.

11. Head of first page of Sweden's SvD (Svenska Dagbladet). Headlines say 'Clinton ordered espionage', 'Putin described as alpha dog', 'cyberattack against WikiLeaks', 'history is being rewritten', and 'US contacting allies'. The UN flag is admittedly a nice tack.

12. Australia's The Age. Australia has held an effective blackout on Cablegate, partly through the efforts of Rupert Murdoch's stranglehold on the media in his home country and partly through the increasingly repressive politics practiced there today.

13. The Australian, another of Rupert Murdoch's prize possessions. The fact that Murdoch is today a foreign national has no effect on Canberra although everyone knows foreign ownership of media in Oz is not actually permitted.

14. Another of Rupert's prize possessions: the London Times. Ample real estate is devoted to Cablegate but site visitors have to fork over cash to get deeper into the site.

15. The former home of Ben Bradlee and his star team 'Woodstein'. For those who remember, those days must seem long gone now.

16. The Forbes cover story. Click to read about tomorrow's targets.