What role do media professionals have in protecting high-value source? On April 8, 2016 WikiLeaks editor and journalist Sarah Harrison addressed this question during a panel discussion at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.
Together with colleagues John Goetz and Stefania Maurizi, and sculptor Davide Dormino – the artist behind the touring statue titled Anything to Say – Harrison embarked in a engrossing discussion about the responsibilities journalists and editors have towards their sources. To support her point of view, the reporter offered some insight on the role she held when, in 2013, she flew to Hong Kong to help out Edward Snowden in his escape from US prosecution, following his explosive revelations about the NSA to WikiLeaks.
Following Snowden’s relocation to Moscow, Harrison was forced to move to Berlin in order to avoid legal actions in Britain under the UK Terrorism Act. While in Germany, Harrison became Director of the Courage Foundation, an international organisation offering legal support to whistleblowers and actively campaigning for the protection of their freedom in order to avoid unjust political imprisonment.
You can watch an interview with Harrison here: