This follows the ongoing publication by WikiLeaks of batches of more than 250,000 secret and confidential diplomatic cables sent by US embassies around the world. The leaked cables were also made available to a number of media partners including the Guardian and Der Spiegel.
Signatories of the letter to Gillard include editors and news directors from media outlets such as Sky News Australia/New Zealand, ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald, according to the Walkley Foundation, which initiated the letter and published a copy on its website.
In the letter the media representatives say they will resist attempts to make publication of such documents illegal.
"The volume of the leaks is unprecedented, yet the leaking and publication of diplomatic correspondence is not new," the letter says.
"We, as editors and news directors of major media organisations, believe the reaction of the US and Australian governments to date has been deeply troubling.
"We will strongly resist any attempts to make the publication of these or similar documents illegal. Any such action would impact not only on WikiLeaks, but every media organisation in the world that aims to inform the public about decisions made on their behalf.
"WikiLeaks, just four years old, is part of the media and deserves our support."
The signatories added that they do not support the publication of material that threatens national security or anything that would put individual lives in danger, but state "there has been no evidence to date that the WikiLeaks material has done either".
"To prosecute a media organisation for publishing a leak would be unprecedented in the US, breaching the First Amendment protecting a free press. In Australia, it would seriously curtail Australian media organisations reporting on subjects the government decides are against its interests."
It's also been reported this week that professors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the US have written to President Obama to say that, while they hold varying opinions of Wikileaks’ methods and decisions, "we all believe that in publishing diplomatic cables Wikileaks is engaging in journalistic activity protected by the First Amendment".
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