WikiLeaks has the same motive as newspapers, according to the site's editor Julian Assange.
"The truths we publish are inconvenient for those who seek to avoid one of the magnificent hallmarks of American life — public debate."
"We publish truths regarding overreaches and abuses conducted in secret by the powerful," Assange said in an opinion piece Tuesday in The Washington Post.
The site takes pains to keep classified information secret, such as redacting names to keep intelligence agents safe, Assange said.
He said that legal rights to publish the material or how sources gained the information are of less concern to him than the truth.
"The media has a long history of speaking truth to power," Assange wrote.
The WikiLeaks chief said he admires American ideals, despite he and his staff being "mischaracterized as America-hating servants to hostile foreign powers."
Assange noted historical events that contained stolen or leaked information, such as Jack Anderson's report on the CIA enlisting the Mafia to kill Fidel Castro, the Providence Journal-Bulletin's release of President Richard Nixon's stolen tax returns, and the New York Times' release of the stolen "Pentagon Papers."
"I hope historians place WikiLeaks' publications in this pantheon," Assange said.
Ecuador's presidential runoff election earlier in April led to a positive result for Assange, who has lived in Ecuador's London embassy since 2012. The losing candidate, Guillermo Lasso, had said he would evict Assange.
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