The Fifth Estate Page #8

of going to ground on this,

it's too late.

The cat's out of the bag.

Bradley Manning's

future and yours

depend on how this

material is handled.

Now, I want you to tell Julian

I'm already working

on a story...

to paint this as the next

Pentagon Papers.

But you need our help.

It's the biggest thing

you've ever done.

And if you think they spun you

on the Collateral

Murder video...

wait till you see

what they do here.

Tell Julian

this is all about survival.

I'll get back to you.

Where's Julian flying in to?

Julian.

Did anyone follow you?

No, no, no, I don't think so.

What's he doing here?

- I told you to come alone.

- You need to hear him out.

They're looking for us, and

they got people everywhere.

Daniel Ellsberg

put out a statement.

He said

they're coming after us.

We need to publish now.

It's hundreds of thousands of

pages of sensitive material.

It's not like the video.

The docs are full of jargon,

they're totally impenetrable.

We wouldn't know what the hell

we were publishing.

So, we let

the historians decide.

I thought the whole point

of this organization

was to publish in full.

I thought the point

was protecting whistleblowers.

Can I speak to Nick Davies,

please?

Don't get me wrong.

You should still

keep an eye out

for men with poison umbrellas.

But if the U.S.

has any foresight,

they know they need

to do more...

than kill you.

They need to delegitimize

everything you stand for.

You represent

a terrifying future.

Right now, the most

powerful media machine

on the entire planet...

is planning a smear campaign

like nothing you've ever seen.

Amazing how someone

could talk for 10 minutes

without actually

saying anything.

You said

you would hear him out.

What are you proposing?

An international

media coalition

legitimizing you

as a news organization.

Let the U.S. attack.

We print the news.

And if we put you on

the moral high ground...

with Mother Teresa,

with Nelson Mandela...

No one will be able

to f*** with us.

But they'd still get

their exclusives.

Look, finding stories

in all these documents...

that's a lot of work,

it's a lot of time.

You can't expect us to do it

without an incentive.

And then what? We set a date?

You run your stories,

we post the raw data.

Obviously, all these documents

have names,

sources, U.S. informants.

You'll need to redact them.

But WikiLeaks doesn't edit.

That's all very well,

but The Guardian

can't be seen to condone...

publishing something

that puts lives in danger.

And morals aside, it's about

how you're perceived.

You're starting

an information war

with the United States

Government.

You mustn't hand

them ammunition.

I suppose

it is just a name search.

Well, look, that's my editor.

What should I say?

How secure are your phones?

Alan.

So, do we have a deal?

No, no, no,

it's a complete cock-up.

He won't talk to me.

Let me talk to him, then.

I can't.

Listen, I'll get back to you.

Julian...

this kind of coverage

gets people's attention.

It could be the culmination

of everything we've done.

This is a code

to a temporary site.

I'll send you the link

in 24 hours.

You'll find the war logs there.

So, it's a deal?

We publish, you publish.

We redact, you redact.

We'll put out the war logs

in six weeks.

If you behave,

we'll move on to the cables.

Great.

Well, a coalition government

will have a certain

honeymoon period.

But, selling off the

post office? I mean that...

Good morning, everyone.

The meeting is over.

Alan, I'm sorry. I told Nick.

Get me Bill Keller

at The Times,

and what's-his-f***

at Der Spiegel.

Alan?

I'm sorry, folks, we're gonna

have to break this up.

Door? Yeah.

He's pretty slow

for a tech wizard.

He said it's 91,000 logs

from Afghanistan alone.

I imagine

that might take a second.

All right, here we go.

Look at that.

Keren, get me Bill Keller

at The New York Times.

And let's be discreet.

The spreadsheet is enormous.

I'm sure it contains

the scoop of the century...

but we simply cannot access it.

Are you working in Excel?

Every time I open the damn

thing the system crashes.

You have to parse the data

in a text editor...

and then script it into

a searchable database.

- Are you getting this?

- Yeah, that helps.

I blew off a profile

with McChrystal in Kabul.

This better be good.

Do you know what

"E.O.F." stands for?

It's "Escalation of Force."

Can you see that?

Yeah, got it.

E.O.F. is

"Escalation of Force."

Which I believe

means more dead civilians.

The Espionage Act?

You can't be serious.

If the Attorney General

can show...

he tried to convince a source

to leak

classified information...

You mean like every journalist

who's ever covered

the Pentagon?

They could indict us

under that rubric.

I wouldn't be surprised

if they do.

Nothing draws people to a cause

like a celebrity martyr, Alan.

That's good, Daniel.

Uh, look...

can you email a list

of whistleblower prizes

you're putting Manning up for?

No emailing.

But I can fax you.

Right, of course.

But we need it by Friday

so we can run it in his bio.

Will do. Thanks, Ian.

And this

Task Force 373 has a hit list

with more than 2,000 names.

Yes, they refer to it

as "stopping birthdays."

These civilian casualty

numbers are devastating.

It's a sh*t show.

I've got the U.K.

ambassador saying

the campaign isn't under

proper supervision.

Do you want to talk

to Marcel? Hold on.

Well, you can sleep

here if you want.

No, no.

T-minus four.

Are you getting excited?

Sure.

He must be exhausted.

I mean, the redactions alone...

it shouldn't take that long.

It's just a name search.

That's what

we initially thought.

But a lot of it is context.

Nick told Julian...

a tip from the "goat herder

in the red house,"

in small villages...

that's as damning as a name.

We're only posting

a few hundred of the logs

and we're swimming.

You'd need an army

to go through all 91,000.

Thank God you have one.

The story on the generals

would typically be the lead...

but everything's

going out at once

in case there's a gag order.

We're struggling to keep it

to 14 pages.

It's talking points

for the morning interviews.

- Julian.

- What the hell?

I've been trying

to reach you for hours.

I was just sending you a list.

The URLs need

to be standardized,

torrents need seeding.

We need to...

The redactions.

That was on my list.

It's 91,000 documents,

and our site is publishing

in four days.

Let's go.

What the hell

were you thinking?

Editing reflects bias.

We make a promise to our

sources to publish in full.

You lied to everyone we're

working with. You lied to me.

It's funny, you know, I don't

remember you objecting...

to us publishing the names

and addresses

- of every BNP member.

- This is different.

These sources are fighting

for the very thing

we're supposed to stand for.

And remind me what that is,

exactly. Hmm?

Transparency for

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