London: WikiLeaks hopes to enlist as many
as 60 news organizations from around the world in a bid to
help speed the publication of its massive trove of secret US
diplomatic memos, the site`s founder says.
Julian Assange told he was
making an effort to reach beyond the major newspapers - such
as The New York Times and The Guardian - that worked with him
on earlier releases, saying that he already has about 20 media
partners, and could triple that number within the next three
months.
"We`re striving for maximum impact for the material,"
Assange said in a telephone interview, in which he laid out
his media strategy.
WikiLeaks has published 2,658 cables to its website -
just over 1 per cent of the 251,287 State Department cables it
claims to have in reserve.
Assange said that The Times, The Guardian, Spain`s El
Pais, France`s Le Monde and Germany`s Der Spiegel have yet to
go through all of the cables, although he didn`t say how many
of the files remained unread.
WikiLeaks has been accused by senior US officials of
reckless disregard in the way it publishes documents, but
Assange said - with a few exceptions - he was so far satisfied
with the process.
The 39-year old, who is currently staying
at a supporter`s country home in eastern England, is also
fighting attempts to extradite him to Sweden on sex crimes
allegations.
Assange has previously expressed frustration with the
slow pace of the release of the secret diplomatic cables, and
said releasing country-specific files to selected local media
would serve to push them out faster.
PTI
