Index will be organising its first event in the United States this spring, with a panel discussion being put together in collaboration with Columbia University and OSI. The event is entitled “Life After WikiLeaks: Who won the information war?”, and it takes place at the Journalism School at Columbia University, New York, on Wednesday May 4, at 6.30pm.

A panel including lawyer Mark Stephens, Richard Cohen of the Washington Post and Russian investigative journalist and security expert Andrei Soldatov will debate the fallout from WikiLeaks for freedom of speech, national security and the media.

Has WikiLeaks expanded our view of how news should be gathered and who gets to publish it, or ushered in a new age of dangerous muckraking? Do governments have a right to keep certain secrets, or is radical transparency the only way to keep governments accountable? Whatever happens next for Julian Assange, an international panel debates how he has permanently altered the playing field — for better or worse — for whistleblowers, journalists, and government leaders.

The event is free to attend, so if you are in New York on that date and would like to join the audience for the debate, please email [email protected]