The Australian government's $5 million spend to bring TV host Oprah Winfrey Down Under has yet to have any impact in parts of New York City that I frequent.



Tourism Australia has talked up the benefit of funding Winfrey's visit, claiming it has created unimaginable opportunities for publicity.



Perhaps my neighbourhood – one of the most diverse areas in one of the most diverse cities in the world – is a cozy bubble (very possible) but there was no talk of the Big O during the weekend.



At a seasonal party for some of the local kids, there was no talk among parents about Oprah's harbour cruise with actor Russell Crowe or her decision to extend her visit to Uluru.



There was no chit chat about the South Sydney Rabbitoh's cap Winfrey had been photographed wearing nor her spectacular climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.



Nope, the local mums and dads were talking about the NFL and jailed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

“Isn't he one of yours?” asked a local dad, not about a nearby teetering toddler but my shared Australian citizenship with Assange.



“Yes, he is my people,” I admitted.



There's a simple reason why Assange and his Wikileaks have dominated coffee shop debate over the past few weeks.



Aside from the classified government information now made public, and the polarised reaction to the disclosures, there's the amazing sub plots of his arrest.



You absolutely couldn't make it up.



Thanks to the Internet, there's also the enormity of the leaks and their widespread dissemination.

Not so long ago, even in the Internet age, leaks really would come in brown envelopes.

Working in Sydney, I had the good fortune on several occasions to receive such packages, documents that detailed facts contradicting what the public were being told.





Sometimes as simple as a single receipt from a brothel, other times as complicated as a heavy secret company report, the contents assisted in constructing stories that had an impact on the status quo, and even saw change within some organizations and companies as a result.

On one occasion, after a story had been published, police called me to enquire where the documents quoted in my story had come from.



“A brown paper envelope,” I told the investigating detective. “Oh, OK,” he replied. I never heard from the police again.



But none of this was on the scale of Wikileaks, of course.



Last week, Evgeny Morozov – a contributor to a New York Times discussion on Wikileaks – revealed analysis of Google searches for “WikiLeaks” broken down by region inside the United States.



The top 10 regions where Wikileaks was a popular search included New Jersey, Vermont, Alaska, and Texas. The Top Three? The District of Columbia, California, and topping the table Virginia. Virginia?!



Specifically, Herndon, Virginia. Right by the CIA's headquarters as well as many private intelligence organisations.



So maybe it's not just New York where Oprah's Australian tour has been bumped down the list of priorities.

