Julian Assange’s prosecution is an assault on journalism

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Julian Assange of WikiLeaks fame is locked up in a British prison and fighting an effort by Joe Biden’s Justice Department to extradite him to stand charges here of violating the Espionage Act. Hearings related to his deportation were held last week in London. 

Assange was a hero to many for exposing leaks from Chelsea Manning and others involving U.S. military conduct in Iran and Afghanistan and U.S. diplomatic cables. 

Others have villainized him for releasing the emails of Hillary Clinton and files and emails of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential election.

Suffice to say, Assange has afflicted the comfortable.

There’s more at stake than Assange’s freedom. Prosecuting him under the Espionage Act poses a threat to the practice of journalism. 

Simply put, he’s being prosecuted for exposing embarrassing government secrets. It’s a slippery slope from convicting him to other journalists for doing likewise. 

Here are good reads from the Jacobin, The Guardian and Substack columnist Lee Fang. 

Two perspectives, gleaned from a CNN story on the deportation hearing, sum up the situation.

“The risk to publishers and investigative journalists around the world hangs in the balance. Should Julian Assange be sent to the US and prosecuted there, global media freedoms will be on trial, too,” said Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s expert on counterterrorism and criminal justice in Europe, in a statement.

Rebecca Vincent, director of International Campaigns for Reporters Without Borders, said his case had “alarming implications for journalism and press freedom.”

“Not least of all, as he would be the first publisher tried under the US Espionage Act, which lacks a public interest defense,” Vincent said during a press conference last Thursday. “This means that this precedent could be applied to any others that publish stories based on classified documents, so that could affect any journalist – any mainstream media organization – anywhere in the world.”

If a liberal Democrat like Biden is not above using the Justice Department in such a manner, imagine what Donald Trump would do. (Assange’s prosecution began under Trump.)

Fifteen years ago, The New York Times once employed 1 percent of the country’s newspaper’s employees. With growth at The Times and layoffs elsewhere, it’s now nearly 7 percent. One reason why the media industry has lost its way is explained here.

The governor of Illinois is no Kathy Hochul when it comes to stadium subsidies. Good for him – and taxpayers.

Speaking of subsidies, The Empire Center for Public Policy has issued a report that concludes taxpayers are getting a poor ROI for the tax breaks it offers the film and television industry. At a cost of $700 million a year, it’s New York’s largest subsidy program.

Child-care providers are “an industry on the brink.”

I reported last week that WBEN, 930 AM, has lost more than half of its audience share since 2020 (13.3 then, 5.3 as of December, according to Nielson.) That dropped the station’s rankings from first to eighth in the Buffalo market. I goofed in yesterday’s WeeklyPost by confusing new January numbers with a different rating service. The 5.3 market share was, in fact, also measured by Nielson, and WBEN remains mired in eighth. My mention last week sent WBEN talk show host David Bellavia into one of his faux outrages, accusing me of, among other things, having wood paneling in my kitchen. (Yes, he was that unhinged,) For the record, I have no wood paneling in my kitchen. Memo to David: Chill, and be nice to wood paneling.

The union representing NFL players polled its members about how their teams treat them. The Bills scored well. Other teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs, did not. Any chance we could get bonus points next time we play them?

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Jim Heaney