Mediastan Page #2

Ok, we are interested.

Ok, in that case there are a couple of terms

that you will need to agree upon.

They are written in

a Memorandum of Understanding.

But it's not a legally

binding document.

In short the terms are: that you may not give

this material to anyone else, and you may not sell it.

And if there are people in need of protection... We are not

talking about some politicians, but about small people.

Lets say a construction worker repaired a stove for

a powerful figure, and found a hideout with gold.

Then obviously the powerful figure is interesting, while

the construction worker will just loose his head.

In that case you need to redact

the name of the construction worker.

Obviously we cannot decide in what situation

the name of a person is relevant...

...and in what situation it is not,

only you can do that.

We'd like you to sign the agreement today...

but if you need more time, we'll go away.

Let's rather postpone

it for tomorrow...

Are you sure you can't

make it today?

...same time

It is a rather short text.

To be on the sure side, we'd rather get an

approval from our superior first.

Besides, he knows English

better than all of us together.

Perhaps you'll do it?

We have our way of doing things...

Can't you do it now?

I am afraid he is asleep

we have 12 hours time difference.

He is in Washington DC.

Yes, he is in the US.

If he were here, we'd do it right away!

I think it is a pure formality.

As comrade Suchov used to say,

there is no need to rush to your own execution!

Well, you are the top man.

You know best!

No, the top man sits in Washington DC...

the Washington overlord of Asia Plus...

...Umet Babakhanov.

[ The next day ]

You should fill out your name and the name of your newspaper here...

M. Mamadshoev, here...

We are in the office of one of the future partners

and they are called 'Asia-Plus'.

Is there a chance that within the coming half hour

you can be online for Skype?

You can see me now, correct?

Yes, hello!

First I will just give a very brief description

as to how I think you should approach this material.

The most important thing to do is to read all of it.

If you go searching for particular things

you will bring your prejudice to the material

and you will only find what you already know.

The other is to understand

the situation in which these documents are made.

They are made by US diplomats, Political Officers,

Economic Officers at the US Embassy

and they are reports on their own activities back to Washington.

Of course I would love to be there myself

but I have to live vicariously these days

by sending these people around the world to...

...engage in some form of remote adventure.

Let us search right away...

You could at least have started with "Asia Plus",

for the sake of decency!

Marat searched for his own name,

the first thing that he did.

They describe me as

an "independent journalist"...

He is called an independent journalist.

...that is a big mistake!

Again, "Marat Mamadshoev".

Here it is written "Editor"

now that is correct!

So, there are too many

references of my name.

Search for "Asia-Plus".

So...

3000 pages! Oh my God!

That's work for the whole night!

[ NAKBI DUSTI ]

Hello!

Hi, is that Marat?

Speaking.

Hi Marat! We wanted to make a check up.

Has Asia-Plus published any of the material that you got?

Yes, we've published a number of articles...

But the problem is that there are many things

in the cables that we cannot publish...

...because we will be in trouble.

For example there was a cable claiming that

a man came to the US Embassy...

...and said that he was planning a coup.

We can't publish a thing

like this, he would sue us!

There are things that are

very interesting for us,

...but I don't know

if we can publish them.

Why can't you publish that

the man is preparing a coup?

Well, I don't know.

We have taken some advice

and decided not to run the story.

[ Location:

Kazakhstan ]

I began with some funny stuff

I was obliged to edit the column 'letters of readers'.

But the problem was that there were

absolutely not letters to edit

but the column should be published twice a day.

So I was obliged to...

...invent those letters myself.

And I just invented a lot of them.

Did you get some, any letters from readers?

Yeh, we've got some, I don't know...

maybe three, four or five in two months

but they were all containing some criticism.

These letters you didn't publish?

No, those letters...

I wanted to publish at least those that were about

problems in the factual content of the newspaper

because I found it rather important

to have some kind of self criticism.

But our marketing department had no self criticism

and they forbid me to publish it.

So I invented letters about problems of veterans

problems of pensioners

problems of no matter whom

So that's how I became a journalist.

Now we are going to visit the magazine

'Expert Kazakhstan'

which is in the same holding company

as my magazine.

And in the same building we have

the news-wire 'KazTag'.

Why are you here on this mission?

Why have you come here

and why do you want to have

these cables published?

You could say that this is your moral obligation.

[ RASSUL RYSSMAMBETOV,

"Kazakh Telegraph Agency" ]

Who is paying for your trip?

You could say that you paid for it

with your own money...

You paid for it all... that's it...

I for example, wanted to visit Iran

to cover the massacres...

...during the elections in 2009 or 2010,

just because I was interested.

I paid for the trip with my own money,

but nobody believed me!

In order to pay for it, I bought vegetables

and exported them to Kazakhstan.

It helped me to pay for satisfying my main interest,

my passion, my curiosity.

I wanted to understand what was

really happening there...

...so I found a way to finance it.

If you can show me your goal clearly,

it will be easier to negotiate.

Enough! Just sign the agreement!

Share your own thoughts.

Theoretically I understand what you say...

...but what's your personal view about

the goals of WikiLeaks?

Look... We have a position...

...the advantage of being a beholder.

We observe things that amaze

a Swedish or American reader:

"Look, they killed this guy!"

We are not amazed.

We know that every war

is cruel and unjust.

And then, the Western countries

attack Libya or some other country and say:

"you've got to have democracy, democracy!"

Then they lay there and

understand that, yes...

- yes, they need democracy.

For sure!

And Information is a weapon...

You admitted that information is a tool.

That WikiLeaks is a tool.

If an unskilled person will use this tool...

You can use a shovel to dig.

But you can also use it to behead.

Same here:
if an unskilled man will get

access to this compromising data...

...it will lead to anarchy!

In your view, people are not ready

to consume all information...

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