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Julian Assange Is About to Become a Journalist
Progressives cheered Assange’s arrest in April because they believe him to be an agent of Donald Trump’s, the man who helped disseminate the Hillary Clinton/DNC emails that the mainstream press worked so hard to gloss over. Mrs. Clinton herself chimed in, “The bottom line is he has to answer for what he has done, at least as it’s been charged.” Their mantra has been “Julian Assange is no journalist!” so he is undeserving of First Amendment protection. This is actually been a point of agreement among Progressives and Conservatives. Both National Review and Commentary ran editorials to this effect.
But the cracks are beginning to show. Like a fetus miraculously becomes a baby in the twinkling of an eye, Mr. Assange may be about to become a journalist. In their coverage of the new indictments this was the take of The New York Times:
It’s starting to dawn on them that maybe they should have been more careful in what they wished for. If Assange is convicted for publishing Manning’s treachery or the DNC materials, they, too, are on the thin edge of the wedge. It’s not enough to argue “he’s not a journalist” because technology has made traditional definitions of “journalist” and “publisher” obsolete. It’s also hard to backtrack on all the support they offered both to Manning (who NBC News downgraded from traitor to “whistleblower”) and to former President Barack Obama who commuted Manning’s sentence on his way out the door in 2017.
But the initial desire was for political punishment as Assange was obviously guilty of sabotaging Mrs. Clinton. But their cheerleading just may have handed a president they detest a new weapon in throttling the power of the press. So like a caterpillar, Assange may emerge into a beautiful First Amendment butterfly.
Published in Journalism
Isn’t that SOP now? Overcharge and negotiate downward to get the confession you want?
It is. I find it distasteful. The threats, the intimidation, all behind the scenes where the public can’t see it often disgusts me. Look at the Mueller probe, where many innocent people had to lawyer up at great costs to themselves.
We used to let the police do that, now we let the lawyers do it (and yes the police do it too, but under the supervision of the lawyers).
Be on the wrong end of it sometime. It is amazing how much it changes your perspective of the system and those that run it.
I had to look it up to be sure, but Sweden isn’t a member of NATO. They’re technically neutral.
Sweden and the US has a separate military assistance treaty. Putin only has himself to blame for Sweden seeking the mutual assistance agreement.
Cato, I think that you are right about the law on this issue. I think that the law is wrong, starting with the Pentagon Papers case.
I haven’t reviewed the Pentagon Papers case lately, nor have I handled a trade secrets case recently. In the trade secrets area, injunctions against disclosure are generally permissible if the defendant improperly obtained the information, or if the defendant is going to improperly disclose it. The latter category — improper disclosure — generally applies when the defendant knows that the information was improperly obtained (even if it was a third party that improperly obtained it). Here’s a quick summary of trade secret law.
Touché
Does that mean we can take him to the slaughterhouse now? Oh, wait, I thought you said “About to Become a Domesticated Herd Animal.” Never mind.
You’re right, and I was wishing too hard. I did a little research. Dammit, I really must have thought … Sigh. That, and the state of the law is more corrupted than I thought. It’s hard to discern, in this question, what’s principle vs. principle, and what’s just a power struggle.
I didn’t go to law school, but the dean of our media department was a lawyer and he required all us budding media dweebs to go over to the law building and take his course on First Amendment Law.
There he drummed into us that, yes, we would have certain First Amendment rights that the general public did not enjoy. If I’m a reporter or a photographer/videographer, I was told, I can enter into private homes during a police call if the police invite me to follow them in.
This has since been changed and for the better. In 1999, the SCOTUS ruled that media entering during the execution of a search or arrest warrant violates the 4th Amendment rights of property owners. (Wilson v Layne)
You’re pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down.