Corporate Media Have Second Thoughts About Exiling Julian Assange From Journalism https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/06/06/corporate-media-have-second-thoughts-about-exiling-julian-assange-journalism Pondering about the AFP raids and what the big picture is, my mind kept going to Assange and the far reach of American Imperialism. I found this article. #auspol #ABCraids 1.

‘After British police arrested Julian Assange on April 11, the first instinct of corporate journalists was to perform a line-drawing exercise. In so doing, corporate media dutifully laid the groundwork for the US Department of Justice’s escalating political persecution‘ 2.

’.. of the WikiLeaks founder, and set the stage for a renewed assault on a free and independent press by the Trump administration.’ 3.

‘Through their effort to discredit Assange and WikiLeaks, corporate media have snugly aligned themselves with the contemporary brokers of US imperial power against a journalistic movement that, over the last decade, has presented them with their most significant challenge.’ 4.

‘As Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy at the behest of the US, the DoJ unsealed an indictment carrying one minor charge. Despite their much-ballyhooed skepticism toward the Trump administration, corporate media instantly took the bait and drew their line.’ 5.

The charge being hacking. ‘The prevailing corporate media response was to exclude him from the ranks of journalism. “If Assange Burgled Some Computers, He Stopped Being a Journalist,” read a paradigmatic headline at Bloomberg (4/11/19).’ 6.

‘Individual journalists also took to social media to exile Assange from their profession. Katie Benner, a Justice Department reporter for the New York Times, tweeted (4/11/19) that true journalists “don’t help sources pick the locks on the safes that hold the information.”’ 7.

‘David Corn (Twitter, 4/11/19), the DC bureau chief for Mother Jones, similarly drew a line between himself and Assange: “As a journalist, I’ve been careful to distinguish between accepting info and inducing or helping leakers break laws to obtain information,” he declared.’ 8.

‘When the US DoJ predictably superseded its initial indictment of Assange on May 23, charging him with 17 additional counts of espionage, corporate media’s demarcation problem just as predictably blew up in their faces.’ 9.

‘As Assistant Attorney General John Demers announced the new charges, he boldly traced the all-important line, guided by corporate media’s hand: “Julian Assange is no journalist,” he asserted.’ 10.

‘Because the new indictment is significantly more severe and relates to WikiLeaks’ ‘publication’ of classified material, not just with how that material was obtained, corporate media are now unsurprisingly questioning the line they were so eager to draw.’ 11.

‘David Corn (Twitter, 5/25/19), now sees “a threat to journalists.” Katie Benner apparently deleted her previous demarcation tweet and has since contributed to a new article (NYT, 5/23/19) about the “frightening charges” now facing Assange.’ 12.

‘Moreover, we have known all along that, as C.W. Anderson said nearly ten years ago, “it’s very hard to draw a line that excludes WikiLeaks and includes the New York Times” (CFR, 12/23/10). So why the sudden change of heart?’ 13.

‘WikiLeaks is a vehicle for what Assange calls “scientific journalism”—an approach that threatens corporate journalism. Assange wrote in a 2010 op-ed that WikiLeaks aspires to “work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true.”’ 14.

‘“Scientific journalism,” he explained, allows you to read a story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?’ This is how journalism should be. 15.

‘While corporate media are content with sourcing “people familiar with the documents,” for WikiLeaks obtaining and publishing those documents is not just a bonus or a lucky break, it is a requirement.’ 16.

‘This documentation-based journalism precludes the blockbuster fabrications that make corporate media boatloads of money, from never-opened bridges in Venezuela to the entire #Russiagate debacle.’ 17.

‘So long as the persecution of Assange seemed only to do with his particular style of journalism, corporate media were happy to throw him under the bus.’ Now they realise that none of them are safe. 18.

‘Corporate media jealously guard their self-anointed prerogative to set a limit on what the public may know.’ Who should decide what the public knows, what is journalism in 2019? Everything is at play now with this American-led war against journalists. #auspol 19.

In my opinion the #AFPraids and #ABCraids are an extension of the plot to get Assange. National security they cry, how long is a piece of string type of thing, you could twist ‘anything’ to put it at risk. It’s not just whistleblowers they’re after. 20.

They’re coming for the ‘publishers’ of things that they don’t like or that they deem as putting our national security at risk. This means all of us that seek the truth, it’s not just bloggers or independent media, it could be a Twitter thread or a comment on Facebook. #auspol 21.

We’ve already seen the Australian government come after civilians speaking out about #robodebt and lawyers for ones about #watergate2019 The outcome of the charges against Assange will impact on us all, it will cement things if we all don’t get up and fight this. End. #auspol