The Washington Post today launched a new program called Top Secret America that shows the federal government has grown so large, is so spread out and has given clearance to so many people, it’s a miracle anything truly stays safe, secret and secure.
The story launched today as a microsite with video, interactive maps and a searchable database,Twitter, Facebook and a coordinated launch effort that included other mainstream promotion like the Today Show and NPR.
From a “Future of Journalism” perspective, this is a fascinating leap forward. Can you imagine the impact if the WaPo’s investigative reporting of Watergate used these types of interactive tools? Nixon would never believe this level of information sharing.
There’s no iPhone app (yet), but every page has sharing tools, and the site is built to scale – meaning we’ve surely only seen the first wave of data and visualization to come from this story.