Some media organizations have condemned the recent disclosure of hundreds of thousands of unredacted secret US diplomatic cables by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

More than 100,000 secret US cables were exposed online, embarrassing officials by laying bare examples of corruption and the use of double-standards around the world. It is not the first time when WikiLeaks exposed the secret documents, but this time WikiLeaks is facing criticism for posting unredacted documents, which made the names and other sensitive details of people quoted in the cables freely available to all.

The Guardian, The New York Times, German newspaper Der Spiegel and Spanish daily El Pais condemned the exposure of the unredacted State Department cables, saying it could jeopardize the security of sources.

In a joint statement, the media organizations said that they, “deplore the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted State Department cables, which may put sources at risk.”

Earlier, WikiLeaks members claimed that they had no option but to release the secret cables as copies of the documents were already circulating online following a security breach at the site.

WikiLeaks is blaming The Guardian for the breach, claiming that Guardian journalist David Leigh published the password in his book, allowing everybody to unlock an encrypted database of unredacted secret documents.