In 20204, one of the most important sagas in the battle for free press came to an end.

Julian Assange, the main force behind WikiLeaks, was finally released from the various forms of captivity he had endured for over a decade,

from hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy for almost seven years to imprisonment in Belmarsh Prison. He had struck a deal with the Biden administration.

Wikileaks is probably the most important publisher of the millennium to date.

Its disclosures have helped map the operations of secret global power

that was previously assumed to be unknowable.

But since 2019, its leaks have slowed to a stop. power that was previously assumed to be unknowable.

But since 2019, its leaks have slowed to a stop.

Although there have been sporadic leaks from the IDF during its genocide in Gaza, none has

been as vast as the WikiLeaks revelations, nor as decisive in changing public opinion. Will something else play the WikiLeaks role again?

Wikileaks isn't the story of Julian Assange alone.

It's also, of course, about the whistleblowers themselves, like Chelsea Manning,

and the teams of journalists and media partners who poured over the vast trove of leak documents

in search of stories to publish.

One of those people is Stefania Marizzi, an Italian journalist who has worked with Wikileaks

as well as Glenn Greenwald on the Edward Snowden Leaks.

She's the author of Secret Power, WikiLeaks and Its Enemies.

My name is Richard Hames, and on this episode of Navarra FM, I asked Stefania if the mistrust

of the state, sewn by WikiLeaks, had mutated into conspiracy theories.

Whether the kinds of leaks the WikiLeaks published can be replaced by open source intelligence,

and whether artificial intelligence might snuff out the role of whistleblowers forever.

This episode contains references to torture and sexual violence.

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