WikiLeaks and Media ethics

The recent cables recently published by WikiLeaks as the main countries of the world shacked Caucuses as well. It was obvious from the documents redacted in the New York Times that Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, has talked behind his Iranian, Turkish and Russian colleagues though normally Azerbaijan has good relationships with these leaders.

Aliyev’s statement on Iran sounds more endangering. According to WikiLeaks the president said that Iranian provocations in Azerbaijan were on the rise. He specifically cited not only the financing of radical Islamic groups and Hezbollah terrorists, but also:

-- the Iranian financing of violent Ashura ceremonies in Nakhchivan,

-- the organization of demonstrations in front of the Azeri consulates in Tabriz and Istanbul,

-- a violent religious procession recently in Baku, and etc.

Dealing with Iran has always been one of the biggest challenges for Azerbaijani diplomacy. First of all the country is believed to back Armenia, which Azerbaijan in the war situation, secondly , Iranian leaders has for several times publicly threatened Azerbaijan, sending military jets to the country area without getting permission.

There live more than 30 million of ethnic Azerbaijani people in the certain area of Iran which is historically used to belong to Azerbaijan.

Some local experts believe that the recent publications of the leading newspapers based on the cables by WikiLeaks is going to damage the relationships especially between in Iran and Azerbaijan.

I am not sure what will happen in the future, but I believe that publishing any information not checking that, not asking for the opinion of the opposite side is absolutely unethical for media professionals. Especially considering possible outcome of the news, it is really important to analyze the story from the community prospective. The newspapers publishing the leaks has violated main professional values like:

Objectivity

Accuracy

Empathy

Privacy

Minimizing harm .