Oprah, Wikileaks and 'J'Accuse'!

The apology, offered by President Jacques Chirac, occurred on the 100th anniversary of Dreyfus’ exoneration.

Zola’s defamatory letter was a catalyst in not just achieving justice for Dreyfus but in wider ramifications of articulating the honourable role to which the press, universally, could aspire. As Zola concluded his letter: “Et l'acte que j'accomplis ici n'est qu'un moyen révolutionnaire pour hâter l'explosion de la vérité et de la justice” (“The action I am taking is no more than a radical measure to hasten the explosion of truth and justice”). This exact sentence could have been uttered by Julian Assange.

In an interesting twist, the owner and co-editor of the Zola’s “L’Aurore” was the aspiring politician, Georges Clemençeau - later to become Prime Minister of France in World War I.

Politics and the Fourth Estate regularly revel in an enormously beneficial symbiosis as do celebrity and the Fourth Estate. On the other hand, the press’ watchdog role can also be ruinous for politicians and governments and when the media is “off the leash” and hard at work (not writing “glossy” reports) it has to face down utterly dire consequences.