Media Organizations Condemn WikiLeaks' Disclosure

Feb. 2011: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arriving at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in London. (AP)

LONDON -- Four of the high-profile media organizations that have collaborated with WikiLeaks on its release of secret documents have condemned the group's disclosure of its entire archive of unredacted U.S. State Department cables.

A joint statement published on the Guardian's website Friday said that it, along with The New York Times, Spanish daily El Pais and German newspaper Der Spiegel "deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted State Department cables, which may put sources at risk."

WikiLeaks has recently published its entire 251,287-document collection of U.S. Embassy cables, suggesting that its hand was forced because the files had already leaked to the Internet in any case.

The circumstances of that leak remain disputed.