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A UK court will decide on Monday whether Julian Assange should be extradited to the US. It’s crucial to understand that the case isn’t just incidentally about press freedom. The whole point of the case is to criminalize national security journalism. /1 https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-assange/uk-judge-to-give-assanges-u-s-extradition-verdict-early-next-year-idUSKBN26M6QO
Consider that the Trump admin indicted Assange even after the Obama admin concluded that it couldn’t meaningfully distinguish Wikileaks’ activities from those of US news organizations. /2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julian-assange-unlikely-to-face-us-charges-over-publishing-classified-documents/2013/11/25/dd27decc-55f1-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html
Consider that the Trump admin filed a superseding indictment under the Espionage Act even though a prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act—the focus of the initial indictment—would have sidestepped many press freedom concerns. /3
And consider that the indictment asserts that Assange violated the Espionage Act not only through his interactions with his source but also simply by publishing classified info. Publishing classified info is of course at the irreducible core of national security journalism. /4
Here’s @ScottShaneNYT, formerly of @nytimes, reacting to an op-ed in which Laura Poitras highlighted the implications of the Assange prosecution for US journalists. /5 https://twitter.com/ScottShaneNYT/status/1341549317966983172?s=20
The threat to press freedom here isn’t merely incidental. For the Trump admin—or for the Trump admin’s Justice Department, anyway—Assange is a means to an end. What the Justice Department wants is to make national security journalism illegal. /6
When Judge Baraitser issues her decision on Monday, don’t misunderstand its significance. It’s Assange in the dock, but it’s press freedom on trial. /7 https://www.justsecurity.org/72629/its-assange-in-the-dock-but-its-national-security-journalism-on-trial/
