Temple Prof. Calls WikiLeaker A "Cyber-Terrorist"
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Temple University journalism professor is calling the man behind the WikiLeaks releases a "cyber-terrorist" and is questioning the ethics of publications willing to accept him as a source.
Christopher Harper (inset photo) is co-director of Temple University's Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab and specializes in digital media and First Amendment issues.
He contends the motives of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (at right in photo) are anything but pure.
"I just see the actions that are taking place right now as making him not a credible source," Harper told KYW Newsradio on Thursday. "He has an agenda. He's not doing it out of the goodness of his heart, for the greater good of the world, to embarrass world leaders and to show what's going on. I think his motives are highly suspect."
And Harper is critical of The New York Times, which is publishing some of the WikiLeaks information. He says its assertion that the release of US State Department cables through Assange is a First Amendment issue is off target.
Harper says it's about ethics and the credibility of sources and the actions of those sources and their supporters.
Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060
