The problem with relying on journalists is that when everything is just dumped out there, the decontextualization and misrepresentation comes so fast and furious that it's uphill battle to counter once it's out there. Jonathan Swift puts it better: "Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect."

There's a really good interview in the intercept between Glenn Greenwald and Naomi Klein about this exact issue. [1] Greenwald mentions:

"So [Wikileaks] were very much an ardent and enthusiastic proponent of that model — that when you get tons of information that belongs in the public eye, you have the corresponding responsibility to protect not only people’s physical security but also their privacy. I used to defend them on that all the time. Somewhere along the way, WikiLeaks and Julian decided, and they’ve said this explicitly, that they changed their mind on that question — they no longer believe in redactions or withholding documents of any kind."

"I think WikiLeaks more or less at this point stands alone in believing that these kinds of dumps are ethically — never mind journalistically — just ethically, as a human being, justifiable."

[1] https://theintercept.com/2016/10/19/is-disclosure-of-podesta...