{"id":2283419,"date":"2024-06-25T16:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T20:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-julian-assange-is-a-criminal-so-is-the-entire-corporate-press\/"},"modified":"2024-06-25T16:23:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T20:23:29","slug":"if-julian-assange-is-a-criminal-so-is-the-entire-corporate-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-julian-assange-is-a-criminal-so-is-the-entire-corporate-press\/","title":{"rendered":"If Julian Assange Is A Criminal, So Is The Entire Corporate Press"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fif-julian-assange-is-a-criminal-so-is-the-entire-corporate-press%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2283419&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was released from a British prison after serving five\u200d years and reaching a plea agreement with President Biden&#8217;s Department of Justice. \u2064Under the deal, Assange pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified U.S. government\u200d materials related to operations in \u2063the Middle East and Afghanistan starting in \u200b2009. Following his release, Assange traveled to the Northern Mariana Islands and plans to return to Australia to \u200creunite with his \u2063family.<\/p>\n<p>The article argues that\u200c Assange&#8217;s \u2063prosecution poses a significant threat to journalism, \u200dequating his actions to what mainstream \u200dmedia outlets routinely do\u2014publish \u200dclassified information. It suggests that Assange was targeted not \u200cfor the act of publishing, but for his intention to hold \u2064powerful entities accountable, contrasting this with other \u2064media that often work \u200din alignment with governmental power \u2064structures.<\/p>\n<p>The case also \u2062highlights the broader implications for free speech and journalism, as it sets a precedent where journalists could face criminal charges for reporting on leaked information. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. commented \u200bon \u2063the matter, criticizing the U.S. security \u2062state for its role in criminalizing journalism. This plea deal marks the \u2062end of Assange&#8217;s long legal ordeal, \u200dbut raises concerns about the future of press freedom.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Julian Assange is now a free man, but he should never have been charged with a crime to begin with. <\/p>\n<p>The Wikileaks founder, who has spent the last five years in a British prison, was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/25\/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-to-go-free-after-striking-plea-deal-with-biden-doj\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released Monday<\/a> after striking a deal with President Biden\u2019s Department of Justice. Assange pleaded guilty to violation of the Espionage Act for publishing classified material about U.S. government operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan beginning in 2009. He traveled to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S.-controlled territory, on Tuesday and was expected to appear in court there on Wednesday before continuing on to his home country of Australia to be reunited with his family.<\/p>\n<p>As Assange\u2019s years-long ordeal comes to a close, it\u2019s worth noting that what was done to him is criminal \u2014 and it poses a very real threat for journalists who dare to question the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-biden-admin-considering-using-private-firms-to-conduct-warrantless-surveillance-of-u-s-citizens\/\" title=\"CNN: Biden Admin Considering Using Private Firms To Conduct Warrantless Surveillance Of U.S. Citizens\">national security state<\/a>. Put simply, what Assange did is no different than what The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and many other corporate media outlets do every day: they publish and report on classified material that was stolen or obtained illegally by sources.<\/p>\n<p>The main difference between Assange and these outlets is that Assange did what he did in order to hold power to account, whereas the corporate press does it in service of power \u2014 at least when a Democratic administration is in the White House. From the earliest days of Wikileaks, Assange\u2019s goal was to publish information that was beyond the control of states, specifically the U.S. government. Today, most major news organizations publish only what is acceptable and approved by the government. <\/p>\n<p>Recall that it was back in the halcyon days of President Obama\u2019s first term that Wikileaks made international headlines \u2014 and Assange became public enemy number one \u2014 after the organization published reams of classified materials about U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. (Recall, too, that Obama\u2019s Justice Department zealously prosecuted leakers, threatened reporters with jail if they didn\u2019t agree to testify against their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-governments-civil-war-over-ufos\/\" title=\"The Government\u2019s Civil War Over UFOs\">anonymous government sources<\/a>, and clandestinely tapped the phone lines of reporters with the Associated Press.)<\/p>\n<p>Some of these materials Assange received from Chelsea Manning, a trans-identifying man and former U.S. military intel officer who at the time went by his given name, Bradley Manning, and had access to hundreds of thousands of reports about the global war on terror, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-committee-urges-navy-exchange-to-stop-selling-chinese-linked-computers\/\" title=\"House Committee urges Navy Exchange to cease Chinese computer sales.\">including sensitive information<\/a> about confidential informants and sources working with the U.S. military overseas.<\/p>\n<p>It was Manning, not Assange, who stole these classified materials and leaked them to a media organization in violation of federal law. Indeed, Manning was convicted on multiple charges of espionage and theft of classified materials, and sentenced to 35 years in prison. <\/p>\n<p>But charging Assange with espionage for publishing illegally leaked materials sets a horrible precedent for free speech and journalism. It means, for example, that every New York Times or Washington Post reporter who writes a story citing anonymous government sources or citing classified documents could be criminally charged.<\/p>\n<p>Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made this point Monday on X after news broke of Assange\u2019s release, rightly noting that \u201cthe US security state succeeded in criminalizing journalism and extending their jurisdiction globally to non-citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Julian Assange struck a plea deal and will go free! I am overjoyed. He&#8217;s a generational hero.<\/p>\n<p>The bad news is that he had to plea guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense info. Which means the US security state succeeded in criminalizing journalism and\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1805389415663255819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Of course, most corporate journalists are unlikely to see or admit the connection, mostly because they maintain there\u2019s a difference between what they believe are \u201clegitimate\u201d news organizations and something like Wikileaks. But there\u2019s not. The only difference is that Assange was honest about his ideological commitments and didn\u2019t falsely represent himself and Wikileaks as a \u201cneutral\u201d media organization the way <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/protesters-clash-with-cops-threaten-to-burn-dc-during-black-lives-matter-march\/\" title=\"Protesters Clash With Cops, Threaten To \u2018Burn\u2019 DC During \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019 March\">legacy media outlets<\/a> do. He believed (and likely still believes) that governments should not keep secrets, especially about their wartime activities, and went about publishing as much secret information he could get his hands on.<\/p>\n<p>Now, maybe you disagree with that. Fine. Maybe you think Assange is a bad person and a threat to U.S. national security. Fine. Maybe you think he should have exercised better judgement about publishing information about dissidents and confidential sources working with the U.S. military, and that he actually has blood on his hands as a result of the things Wikileaks published. Maybe so.<\/p>\n<p>But publishing that information was not a crime. If it is, then our First Amendment is worthless, and every news organization in this country had better change the way it does business \u2014 and fast.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Claremont Review of Books, The New York Post, and elsewhere. He is the author of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Pagan-America-Decline-Christianity-Dark\/dp\/1684514444\/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Pagan+America&#038;qid=1695306441&#038;sr=8-1\"><i>Pagan America: the Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come<\/i><\/a>. Follow him on Twitter, @johnddavidson.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, was released from a British prison after five years. He struck a deal with President Biden&#8217;s Department of Justice, pleading guilty to violating the Espionage Act. However, many argue that he should never have been charged<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":2283420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Julian-Assange.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32687,3977,5157,32537,14982],"class_list":["post-2283419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-corporate-press","tag-criminal","tag-journalism","tag-julian-assange","tag-whistleblowers"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Julian-Assange.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}