Photo Gallery The WikiLeaks Odyssey
Julian Assange is a polarizing figure. In a new book, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller describes the at times difficult working relationship with Assange. The WikiLeaks founder has already expressed his displeasure over the account prior to its official publication.
Assange has been sensitive to criticism from WikiLeaks' media partners. At times, the cooperation nearly collapsed over disputes with the New York Times, Guardian and SPIEGEL.
Eventually, a deal was reached and the US State Department diplomatic cables were featured on the cover of DER SPIEGEL ...
... as well as the Guardian ...
.. and the New York Times. Initially, Assange refused to work with the newspaper, but a senior editor at the Guardian shared the database with the American newspaper, angering Assange.
In the end, Assange agreed to a deal. But he also added Spanish daily El País ...
... and French daily Le Monde to the group of newspapers and magazines reporting on the trove of documents.
Julian Assange has been the public face of WikiLeaks since the very beginning. After the release of the diplomatic cables, however, he intially kept a lower profile.
Generally, though, Assange is fond of making grand appearances. Here he can be seen presenting his organization's trove of Iraq war cables in October 2010. "We have to survive this leak," he told editors of the Guardian and SPIEGEL at a crisis meeting in London.
One of WikiLeaks' best known leaks so far was the video "Collateral Murder," taken from the on-board camera of a US combat helicopter in July 2007. It shows how the crew opened fire on several people in Baghdad, including two people working for the news agency Reuters.
For US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the publication of the diplomatic cables in November was a humiliating experience. It was the greatest breach of classified documents the State Department had ever experienced.
The cables also left US Ambassador to Germany Philip Murphy with a lot of explaining to do because of his harsh descriptions of German politicians in the memos he sent back to Washington. "I am mad about it, and I don't blame our brethren in the German government if they are mad, too, that someone has downloaded these documents," Murphy said. "I'm incredibly angry. I don't begrudge SPIEGEL and the press, who are just doing their jobs. I am criticizing those who stole this material."
