Some people believe it is often necessary, even desirable, for political leaders to withhold information from the public. Others believe that the public has a right to be fully informed.

The strategy of informing the people is one of the delicate decisions which requires politicians to be meticulous. There is a spectrum of opinion on whether the politicians should give the information to the people, or they should keep back the information from the people.

Some people believe that undue information of the public can lead to public panic. There are certain information, especially those of foreign relations, which are more a matter of the political game. Enemies become allies and friends assume a hostile attitude constantly, and the public who does not know the mores of politics can overestimate some situations and panic. Consider when Wikileaks divulged some classified information. The information tended to predict a war between Israel and Iran. At that time, three years ago, the lives of the Iranian people were quite negatively affected by the fog of the fright of the war; the value of the currency plunged and the market was experiencing a huge recession like a great tide which has still embroiled the economy of Iran. The war never happened, but the impact of people’s panic was undeniably grave. Hence, these people believe that governments should withhold the information from the public.

On the other side of the spectrum people believe that governments should _not_ keep back the information. These people believe that the withdrawal of information from the people can cause the alienation. Consider the lies and propaganda the politicians use in order to cover their defects, and not allowing people to know what is going on. In Iran, the president Ahmadi Nejad, by manipulating the statistics, did not allow the people to be informed about what is really going on. This caused the alienation of people and arose many protests against his second presidency. Political intrigues also found their opportunity to instigate the situation. Therefore, these people believe that in order not to alienate the people, politicians should meet the right of the people, which is knowing what is happening in their country.

Finally, as far as I’m concerned, politicians should strike a balance between withholding the information and offering them to the people. This makes the people not to suffer from the panics which in turn prolongs any crisis and also enables them to evaluate what is going on and this is where the democracy can really emanate: People are well-informed enough to be able to participate in the destiny of their nation.

In short, as discussed, the whole spectrum of the opinions holds valid; Politicians cannot make some information available, like foreign policies, for the people. At the same time there are national information that politicians need to confer on people that they be aware of the happenings in their nation.