{"168897":{"id":"168897","parent":"156821","time":"1581466140","url":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/168897","source":"http:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2020\/02\/10\/julian-assange-wins-2020-gary-webb-freedom-of-the-press-award\/","category":"Justice","title":"Julian Assange Wins 2020 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award","catalog-images":"3\/\/1\/newsnet_168897_b39333.png\/newsnet_168897_997737.jpg\/newsnet_168897_95033e.jpg\/newsnet_168897_201a07.png\/newsnet_168897_a35ef2.jpg\/newsnet_168897_be2709.png\/newsnet_168897_d1f4eb.jpg\/newsnet_168897_ac57d4.jpg\/newsnet_168897_7df7e1.jpg\/newsnet_168897_535a2c.jpg\/newsnet_168897_3f78bf.jpg\/newsnet_168897_j3ZX2_FRfe0.jpg\/newsnet_168897_-hZQDmqVhk4.jpg\/newsnet_168897_uZkyLoaMvRg.jpg","image":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/img\/newsnet_168897_b39333.png","hub":"newsnet","url-explicit":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/art\/julian-assange-wins-2020-gary-webb-freedom-of-the-press-award","admin":"newsnet","views":"595","priority":"3","length":"30984","lang":"en","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EImprisoned \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E publisher Julian Assange has been awarded \u003Ci\u003EConsortium News\u003C\/i\u003E' 2020 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award for courage in the face of an unprecedented attack on press freedom.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EBy \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/tag\/joe-lauria\"\u003EJoe Lauria\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ESpecial to Consortium News\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-img2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E Julian Assange, the imprisoned and maligned publisher of \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks,\u003C\/i\u003E has been awarded the 2020 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award by the board of the Consortium for Independent Journalism, publishers of \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EConsortium News.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange is incarcerated in a maximum security prison in London awaiting a hearing later this month on an extradition request by the United States. He has been charged 0n 17 counts under the U.S. Espionage Act of possessing and publishing classified material that revealed \u003Ci\u003Eprima facie\u003C\/i\u003E evidence of U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor practicing the highest order of journalism-revealing crimes of the state-Assange faces 175 years in a U.S. prison-a life sentence for the 48-year old Australian.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange, whose life has been \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2019\/11\/23\/doctors-petition-uk-home-secretary-over-julian-assange\"\u003Eendangered\u003C\/a\u003E in harsh prison conditions, has become an international symbol of the threat to press freedom. He is the first journalist to be charged under the Espionage Act for possession and dissemination of state secrets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-img2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe late Robert Parry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobert Parry, the late founder and editor of \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EConsortium News,\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E was a staunch defender of Assange's rights. In 2010, he \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2010\/121610.html\"\u003Ewrote\u003C\/a\u003E: \"Though American journalists may understandably want to find some protective cover by pretending that Julian Assange is not like us, the reality is - whether we like it or not - we are all Julian Assange.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe award is named after journalist Gary Webb whose life was cut short after the mainstream press vilified him for accurate reports about a CIA operation that flooded urban areas of the U.S. with cocaine from Nicaragua.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJournalist and filmmaker John Pilger, a member of the \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EConsortium News\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E board, said: \"Having been close to Julian Assange through much of his struggle against corrupt power, I had no hesitation in voting for him for the Gary Webb prize. While Gary was a tragedy at the end, Julian must be a triumph.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EA History of Scoops\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange launched \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E in Dec. 2006. Among its first revelations were files alleging corruption by former Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi; the U.S. Army manual for soldiers at Guantanamo Bay and registers of U.S. military equipment in \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/\/wiki\/US_Military_Equipment_in_Afghanistan_(2007)\"\u003EAfghanistan\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/\/wiki\/US_Military_Equipment_in_Iraq_(2007)\"\u003EIraq\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn January 2008, \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E released \"United Nations Confidential Reports\" that \"\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/\/wiki\/United_Nations_confidential_reports\"\u003Eexpose\u003C\/a\u003E matters from allegations of hundreds of European peace-keepers sexually abusing refugee girls to generals in Peru using Swiss bank accounts to engage in multi-million dollar frauds against the UN.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cimg style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/img\/newsnet_168897_95033e.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChelsea Maning in 2017. (Vimeo)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E' first major release came on April 5, 2010 with the publication of the Collateral Murder \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/collateralmurder.wikileaks.org\"\u003Evideo\u003C\/a\u003E, providing evidence of a U.S. war crime in Iraq. It was leaked by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who was arrested and charged on May 26, 2010 under the Espionage Act.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith Manning in jail, \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E published more of her leaked material. The Afghan War Diaries were released on July 25, 2010, which revealed the suppression of civilian casualty figures, the existence of an elite U.S.-led death squad and the covert role of Pakistan in the conflict. Assange partnered with \u003Ci\u003EThe New York Times, Der Spiegel\u003C\/i\u003E and \u003Ci\u003EThe Guardian\u003C\/i\u003E in publishing the Afghan leaks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn Nov. 28, 2010, the first of Manning's U.S. Diplomatic Cables were released. They helped spark a revolt in Tunisia that spread into the so-called Arab Spring, revealed Saudi intentions towards Iran and exposed spying on the UN secretary general and other diplomats.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the next few years \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E revealed embarrassing documents on \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/\/akp-emails\"\u003ETurkey\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/search.wikileaks.org\/syria-files\"\u003ESyria\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/saudi-cables\"\u003ESaudi Arabia\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/\/spyfiles\/russia\"\u003ERussia\u003C\/a\u003E, the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/\/sony\/emails\"\u003ESony Corporation\u003C\/a\u003E, and secret \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tpp-final\"\u003Edetails\u003C\/a\u003E of the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/tpp-final\"\u003ETrans-Pacific Partnership\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E in 2011 pioneered an anonymous online \"drop box\" for whistleblowers to deposit documents without their identities being known, even to \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks.\u003C\/i\u003E The organization carefully \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/DKIM-Verification.html\"\u003Eauthenticates\u003C\/a\u003E every document it receives and has a perfect record of accuracy. Major news organizations like \u003Ci\u003EThe Wall Street Journal, The Guardian\u003C\/i\u003E and CNN have copied \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E in creating their own anonymous drop boxes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cimg style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/img\/newsnet_168897_201a07.png\" \/\u003E In 2016, \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E published leaked \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/\/dnc-emails\"\u003Eemails\u003C\/a\u003E from the Democratic National Convention and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta that exposed DNC efforts to derail the primary candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Hillary Clinton's role in the destruction of Libya and a pay-to-play scheme at the Clinton Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the Trump administration, \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E published in March 2017 secret CIA \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/ciav7p1\"\u003Edocuments\u003C\/a\u003E that exposed \"the entire hacking capacity of the CIA,\" which the agency had lost control of. \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/ciav7p1\/?\"\u003Eavoided\u003C\/a\u003E \"the distribution of 'armed' cyberweapons.\" But the documents it published revealed how the agency can remotely gain control of a citizen's television set and showed that the CIA can plant doctored fingerprints into a cyber-attack to falsely blame an adversary. The Vault 7 release led then CIA Director Mike Pompeo to \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/cybersecurity\/328730-cia-director-wikileaks-a-non-state-hostile-intelligence-service\"\u003Elabel\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E a \"non-state hostile intelligence service.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the past decade, \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E publications have \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/defend.wikileaks.org\/wikileaks\"\u003Espurred\u003C\/a\u003E countless news reports and academic papers around the world, and have been used in numerous court cases promoting human rights.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EAssange's Arrest\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA month after the Afghan War Diaries were published two women went to the police in Sweden to ask if Assange could be tested for sexually transmitted disease after having unprotected relations with both of them. One of the women later texted that she had been \"railroaded\" by police into making a formal complaint about rape and refused to sign her statement. The next day Sweden's chief prosecutor \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-11049316\"\u003Edismissed\u003C\/a\u003E the allegations. She said: \"I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cimg style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/img\/newsnet_168897_a35ef2.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENils Melzer (UN Photo)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter Swedish authorities told him he was free to go, Assange returned to London when an extradition request was issued by a prosecutor, not a judge, and he was arrested in December 2010. This came after Swedish police had altered and signed the statement of one of the women who had refused to sign, in a way that permitted the case to be re-opened, according to a UN special rapporteur's \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@njmelzer\/response-to-open-letter-of-1-july-2019-7222083dafc8\"\u003Einvestigation\u003C\/a\u003E. Nils Melzer, the rapporteur on torture,\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.republik.ch\/2020\/01\/31\/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange\"\u003Esaid\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\"I speak fluent Swedish and was thus able to read all of the original documents. I could hardly believe my eyes: According to the testimony of the woman in question, a rape had never even taken place at all. And not only that: The woman's testimony was later changed by the Stockholm police without her involvement in order to somehow make it sound like a possible rape. I have all the documents in my possession, the emails, the text messages.\"\u003Cp\u003EWhile still in the police station, she wrote a text message to a friend saying that she didn't want to incriminate Assange, that she just wanted him to take an HIV test, but the police were apparently interested in \u00abgetting their hands on him.\u00bb The police wrote down her statement and immediately informed public prosecutors. two hours later, a headline appeared on the front page of Expressen, a Swedish tabloid, saying that Julian Assange was suspected of having committed two rapes.\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter he exhausted his appeals in British courts to fight extradition to Sweden, Assange sought and received political asylum by the government of Ecuador in its London embassy on June 19, 2012. Assange and his lawyers said at the time they feared onward extradition from Sweden to the U.S. to face charges for publishing classified material.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe former foreign minister of Ecuador on why his country gave Assange asylum:\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=j3ZX2_FRfe0\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-chain\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E youtube\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange continued running \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E from inside the embassy. Despite needing medical care, British authorities said he would be arrested if he left the embassy and re-entered British territory. In February 2016 a UN panel \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2016\/feb\/04\/julian-assange-wikileaks-arrest-friday-un-investigation\"\u003Eruled\u003C\/a\u003E that Assange was a being \"arbitrarily detained\" in the embassy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA change in government in Ecuador in May 2017 led to the eventual revocation of Assange's asylum without due process and in likely violation of Ecuadorian national law and the 1954 \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/ibelong\/wp-content\/uploads\/1954-Convention-relating-to-the-Status-of-Stateless-Persons_ENG.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EUnited Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees\u003C\/a\u003E. The convention stipulates that no asylee can be expelled to a territory \"where his life or freedom would be threatened.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange was eventually dragged out of the embassy by British police on April 11, 2019. His fears of extradition to the U.S. were realized when the U.S. indicted him on 17 charges under the Espionage Act and one charge of computer intrusion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImprisoned in the high security Belmarsh Prison with terrorists and other violent criminals, Assange has had restricted access to visitors, including with his lawyers. Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, visited Assange in his cell and reported that he was suffering from psychological torture.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange faces an extradition hearing at Woolwich Crown Court that begins the week of Feb. 24 and will continue in May. (\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EConsortium News\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E will be in London to provide extensive coverage in print and video.)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a normal case, Assange's indictment would be thrown out after it was \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.repubblica.it\/esteri\/2019\/11\/18\/news\/a_massive_scandal_how_assange_his_doctors_lawyers_and_visitors_were_all_spied_on_for_the_u_s_-241314527\"\u003Erevealed\u003C\/a\u003E that the prosecuting government was spying on Assange's privileged conversations with his attorneys in the Ecuador Embassy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-img2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPolice expelling Assange from embassy. (YouTube)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBoth U.S. indictments against Assange spell out the exact work of investigative reporting. The indictment on intrusion alleges that Assange helped Manning gain access to a government computer, which the indictment acknowledges Manning had security clearances to legally access.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat the indictment alleges is that Assange egged Manning on for more information and tried to help her, unsuccessfully, to sign in under an administrative user name to help her do what every reporter must do, hide their sources' identity. The second indictment likewise accused Assange of practicing journalism by encouraging his source to provide classified documents.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn his 2010 article Parry said in his investigative reporting he did the exact things Assange had done, even encouraging his sources to commit a crime if it could prevent a larger crime from occurring. He wrote:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\"The process for reporters obtaining classified information about crimes of state most often involves a journalist persuading some government official to break the law either by turning over classified documents or at least by talking about the secret information. There is almost always some level of 'conspiracy' between reporter and source. In most cases, I played some role - either large or small - in locating the classified information or convincing some government official to divulge some secrets. More often than not, I was the instigator of these 'conspiracies.'\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the time Parry wrote his article, the Obama administration had empaneled a grand jury to consider charging Assange under the Espionage Act for publishing leaked secrets, which Parry defended as the core work of investigative journalism. Ultimately, then Attorney General Eric Holder decided against indictment, because of what the administration called its \"\u003Ci\u003ENew York Times\u003C\/i\u003E problem.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat was an acknowledgement that Assange was a journalist and that prosecuting him for doing what the \u003Ci\u003ETimes\u003C\/i\u003E and other big media also do would open them up to prosecution as well. The First Amendment prevailed until the Trump administration brushed aside the very same problem and charged Assange with espionage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe 1917 Espionage Act, derived from the 1889 British Official Secrets Act, outlaws any unauthorized possession and\/or dissemination of classified information. Journalists have for decades possessed and published state secrets without consequence. This is what makes Assange's case an unprecedented assault on freedom of the press and the First Amendment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003ERecognition of Threat to the Press\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-img2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERachel Maddow.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the time of his arrest, even long time critics of Assange acknowledged the threat to press freedom it posed. In an \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/05\/23\/opinion\/julian-assange-wikileaks.html\"\u003Eeditorial\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ci\u003EThe New York Times\u003C\/i\u003E wrote:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\"The new indictment is a marked escalation in the effort to prosecute \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/11\/25\/world\/europe\/julian-assange-health.html\"\u003EMr. Assange\u003C\/a\u003E, one that could have a chilling effect on American journalism as it has been practiced for generations. It is aimed straight at the heart of the First Amendment.\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\"The new charges focus on receiving and publishing classified material from a government source. That is something journalists do all the time. This is what the First Amendment is designed to protect: the ability of publishers to provide the public with the truth.\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ci\u003ETimes\u003C\/i\u003E praised Assange's work:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\"Mr. Assange shared much of the material at issue with The New York Times and other news organizations. The resulting stories demonstrated why the protections afforded the press have served the American public so well; they shed important light on the American war effort in Iraq, revealing how the United States turned a blind eye to the torture of prisoners by Iraqi forces and how extensively Iran had meddled in the conflict.\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe New Yorker\u003C\/i\u003E's Masha Gessen, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/our-columnists\/charging-julian-assange-under-the-espionage-act-is-an-attack-on-the-first-amendment\"\u003Ewrote\u003C\/a\u003E: \"The use of the Espionage Act to prosecute Assange is an attack on the First Amendment. It stands to reason that an Administration that considers the press an 'enemy of the people' would launch this attack. In attacking the media, it is attacking the public.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMSNBC's Rachel Maddow, the Democratic Party booster, who probably had more influence than any commentator in drumming up the Russiagate conspiracy theory and Assange's alleged role in it, launched into an astounding defense of the imprisoned publisher. On her program she said:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\"The Justice Department today, the Trump administration today, just put every journalistic institution in this country on Julian Assange's side of the ledger. On his side of the fight. Which, I know, is unimaginable. But that is because the government is now trying to assert this brand new right to criminally prosecute people for publishing secret stuff, and newspapers and magazines and investigative journalists and all sorts of different entities publish secret stuff all the time. That is the bread and butter of what we do.\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EVictim of Disinformation Campaign\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=-hZQDmqVhk4\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-chain\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E youtube\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange has been the victim of an effective, mass disinformation campaign, planned as long ago as March 8, 2008 when a secret, 32-page \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/wiki\/U.S._Intelligence_planned_to_destroy_WikiLeaks,_18_Mar_2008\"\u003Edocument\u003C\/a\u003E from the Cyber Counterintelligence Assessment branch of the Pentagon described in detail the importance of destroying the \"feeling of trust that is WikiLeaks' center of gravity.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe document said: \"This would be achieved with threats of exposure and criminal prosecution and an unrelenting assault on reputation.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\"It was as if they planned a war on a single human being and on the very principle of freedom of speech,\" Pilger said in 2018 (video above).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a result, a number of falsehoods about Assange's story are deeply entrenched in the media and the public and are resistant to correction with facts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003E1. Assange is not a journalist.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost establishment journalists do not consider Assange to be one of them. First, he is completely a product of the Internet Age, a medium as revolutionary as the printing press, radio and television. His journalism is of a different type than traditional reporting.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESecond, \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E publishes entire documents, rather than reporting extensively on them. In the past newspapers, such as \u003Ci\u003EThe New York Times\u003C\/i\u003E, published several pages in print editions of major documents, such as the top secret Pentagon Papers and today provide whole documents online.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-img2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccepting the Freedom of Expression award, 2008 (Index on Censorship)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange is not simply a clerk receiving documents and posting them online without studying any of them. He has engaged in their authentication and has a profound understanding of their contents and newsworthiness. Assange has given countless interviews and speeches, authored \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Julian-Assange\/e\/B004SIG8CY?ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share\"\u003Ethree books\u003C\/a\u003E, edited and co-written two others, and written dozens of articles. Throughout he has displayed a deep understanding of geopolitics and the internal affairs of numerous nations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost importantly, Assange has had an adversarial relationship with power, something that is waning in establishment media. Because of that increasingly cozy relationship between journalism and power Assange has scooped major media, perhaps engendering a degree of professional jealousy. The U.S. government must insist he is not a journalist making it easier to apply espionage charges to him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis role as a journalist was affirmed by the numerous awards he has won, including \u003Ci\u003EThe Economist's\u003C\/i\u003E New Media Award (2008); Amnesty International's UK Media Award (2009); the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence award (2010); the \u003Cspan id=\"bt0137880\"\u003E\u003Ca onclick=\"togglebub('wiki,call__0137880_https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Martha*Gellhorn*Prize*for*Journalism_1');\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-wiki2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Martha_Gellhorn_Prize_for_Journalism\"\u003EMartha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism\u003C\/a\u003E (2011, which Parry won in 2017); the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2011-11-28\/assange-accepts-journalism-award\/3698076\"\u003EWalkley Award\u003C\/a\u003E for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism (2011, Australia's Pulitzer Prize), the Voltaire Award for Free Speech (2011), the International Piero Passetti Journalism Prize of the National Union of Italian Journalists (2011), the Jose Couso Press Freedom Award (2011); the Yoko Ono Lennon \u003Cspan id=\"bt0148890\"\u003E\u003Ca onclick=\"togglebub('wiki,call__0148890_https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Courage*Award*for*the*Arts_1');\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-wiki2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Courage_Award_for_the_Arts\"\u003ECourage Award for the Arts\u003C\/a\u003E (2013) and the Galizia Prize for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information (2019).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2010, the New York \u003Ci\u003EDaily News\u003C\/i\u003E listed \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E first among websites \"that could totally change the news.\" No less of an authority than the founder of this site, one of America's best investigative reporters, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.consortiumnews.com\/2010\/121610.html\"\u003Esaid\u003C\/a\u003E, \"Journalists are all Julian Assange.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd Parry gave this warning to establishment journalists: \"By shunning \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E as some deviant journalistic hybrid, mainstream U.S. news outlets may breathe easier now but may find themselves caught up in a new legal precedent that could be applied to them later.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-img2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGoogle search results for Assange.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003E2. Assange was \"charged\" with rape.\u003C\/b\u003E This might be the most frequent falsehood uttered about Assange, even mistakenly by Assange supporters. No rape or any other charges were ever filed by Swedish authorities. The case was dropped three times, but the \"rape\" smear persists. Stefania Maurizi, a reporter for \u003Ci\u003ELa Repubblica\u003C\/i\u003E in Italy, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.repubblica.it\/esteri\/2019\/11\/18\/news\/a_massive_scandal_how_assange_his_doctors_lawyers_and_visitors_were_all_spied_on_for_the_u_s_-241314527\/?refresh_ce\"\u003Eobtained documents\u003C\/a\u003E that showed British authorities pressured the Swedish chief prosecutor not to come to London to interview him in the embassy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a report on the German ZDF TV network last week documents were produced by Melzer showing the rape allegations were \"invented\" by Swedish police. \"Why would a person be subject to nine years of a preliminary investigation for rape without charges ever having been filed?\" he recently \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.republik.ch\/2020\/01\/31\/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange\"\u003Etold\u003C\/a\u003E the Swiss newspaper \u003Ci\u003ERepublik.\u003C\/i\u003E \"Just imagine being accused of rape for nine-and-a-half years by an entire state apparatus and by the media without ever being given the chance to defend yourself because no charges had ever been filed.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMany persist in believing that Assange is a \"coward\" who fled to the Ecuadorian embassy to escape the rape \"charges\" when he voluntarily went to the police station in Sweden. His fear was being extradited to the U.S. via Sweden.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003E3. Assange was charged with endangering U.S. informants.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMuch was made in the Espionage Act\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/assets.documentcloud.org\/documents\/6024842\/Assange-superseding-indictment.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eindictment\u003C\/a\u003E of Assange allegedly revealing the names of U.S. informants and endangering their lives. At the top of the indictment are listed all the U.S. statutes prosecutors say Assange violated. Nowhere among them is revealing the identity of informants. That's because, though it may be unethical, there is no law against it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn fact, as Australian mainstream journalist Mark Davis revealed in a talk \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=uZkyLoaMvRg\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-chain\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E webcast\u003C\/a\u003E by \u003Cb\u003ECN Live!\u003C\/b\u003E it was Assange and not his mainstream media partners who worked through the night to redact the names of many informants before the Afghan War Diaries were released in July, 2010.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDavis, who was in the \"bunker\" at \u003Ci\u003EThe Guardian\u003C\/i\u003E in London working on the documents, said it was only when two \u003Ci\u003EGuardian\u003C\/i\u003E journalists in a book revealed the secret password to the entire trove of documents, endangering informants named in them, that Assange released the full archive to alert those in danger. \u003Ci\u003EThe Guardian\u003C\/i\u003E \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2011\/09\/wikileaks-unredacted-cable-release-is-guardians-fault\"\u003Edenies\u003C\/a\u003E this saying \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E told them the password it used in its book would expire within hours. In any event, there is \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-11882092\"\u003Eno evidence\u003C\/a\u003E that any informant named has been harmed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=uZkyLoaMvRg\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-chain\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E youtube\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003E4. Assange hacked secret U.S. databases.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssange was arrested at age 20 for hacking but was released on good behavior. The label \"hacker\" has followed him ever since even though Assange is not being charged as a \"hacker\" but for helping Manning hide her identity while accessing classified material she had clearance to access, which Parry said is standard journalistic practice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003E5. Assange was charged with interfering with the 2016 U.S. election.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the most widely mistaken beliefs is that Assange interfered in the U.S. election with Russian help in order to get Donald Trump elected. All of the U.S. charges against Assange stem from 2010 and have nothing to do with the 2016 election, another mistaken belief.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the 2017 film \u003Ci\u003ERisk,\u003C\/i\u003E by filmmaker Laura Poitras, Assange is filmed on the phone in early 2016 saying \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E had obtained emails on Hillary Clinton and \"we hope to get something on Trump.\" As Maurizi has \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2018\/07\/19\/inside-wikileaks-working-with-the-publisher-that-changed-the-world\"\u003Ewritten\u003C\/a\u003E for \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EConsortium News,\u003C\/b\u003E WikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E did obtain Trump documents but discovered they had already been published.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKristinn Hrafnsson, \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E editor-in-chief, told \u003Cb\u003ECN Live!\u003C\/b\u003E that had \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E had damaging information on Trump, they certainly would have published it, especially before an election when voters need to be informed about the candidates.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere is zero evidence that \u003Ci\u003EWikiLeaks\u003C\/i\u003E had material on Trump and suppressed it, another widely believed falsehood. Assange favored neither candidate and before the election \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com.au\/julian-assange-2016-election-cholera-gonorrhea-2016-7?r=US&IR=T\"\u003Esaid\u003C\/a\u003E the choice between the candidates was like choosing \"cholera or gonorrhea.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESpecial Counsel Robert Mueller's report alleges that Assange communicated online with Russian GRU defense intelligence agents posing as \"Guccifer 2.0\" to obtain leaked Democratic Party emails. Even if it were true that Guccifer 2.0 was a cover for Russian intelligence, Mueller offers no evidence that Assange would be aware of that.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd even if it were the Russians who provided the material to Assange, the emails were accurate, meaning it is irrelevant who the source of the leak was. \u003Ci\u003EThe Wall Street Journal\u003C\/i\u003E's and other major media's anonymous drop boxes prove that. They don't need or want to know the source if newsworthy documents are authenticated.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf a foreign power inserted fabricated emails into a U.S. presidential campaign, that would be sabotage through disinformation. But that's not what happened. The emails were information, not disinformation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EWhat Really Happened\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cimg style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/img\/newsnet_168897_535a2c.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPlaque to be presented to Assange. (Made by Roy de Visser, The Trophy Store in Sydney, Australia)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe truth is that a vindictive U.S. government was exposed with clear evidence of committing war crimes, meddling in other nations' internal affairs and spying on adversaries, allies and citizens alike and in response imprisoned and charged the journalist who revealed this wrongdoing. It is an attack on press freedom usually associated with the most aggressive totalitarian regimes, going to the core of how the West defines itself: as a democracy that upholds the right to criticize government or authoritarianism that crushes dissent.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\"The really horrifying thing about this case is the lawlessness that has developed: The powerful can kill without fear of punishment and journalism is transformed into espionage,\" said Melzer. \"It is becoming a crime to tell the truth.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMelzer \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.republik.ch\/2020\/01\/31\/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange\"\u003Etold\u003C\/a\u003E the \u003Ci\u003ERepublik\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\"Imagine a dark room. Suddenly, someone shines a light on the elephant in the room - on war criminals, on corruption. Assange is the man with the spotlight. The governments are briefly in shock, but then they turn the spotlight around with accusations of rape. It is a classic maneuver when it comes to manipulating public opinion. The elephant once again disappears into the darkness, behind the spotlight. And Assange becomes the focus of attention instead, and we start talking about whether Assange is skateboarding in the embassy or whether he is feeding his cat correctly. Suddenly, we all know that he is a rapist, a hacker, a spy and a narcissist. But the abuses and war crimes he uncovered fade into the darkness.\"\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA plaque in honor of Assange's award, reads: \"For bravery in the face of a grave threat to Freedom of the Press and for journalistic accomplishments in revealing crimes of the state.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Gary Webb Award is the third prize Assange has won while in prison, and the first from the United States. Recognition of the threat his case poses to press freedom grows.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPast winners of the Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award are Sam Parry (2016), who created \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EConsortium News'\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E website in 1995, and filmmaker Oliver Stone (2017).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EHistory of the Award\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ci\u003EAbout the origin of the award, Parry wrote:\u003C\/i\u003E The award is named in honor of investigative reporter Gary Webb who in 1996 courageously revived interest in one of the darkest scandals of the 1980s, the Reagan administration's tolerance of cocaine trafficking by the CIA-organized Nicaraguan Contra rebels who were fighting to overthrow Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-img2\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJournalist Gary Webb holding a copy of his Contra-cocaine article in \u003Ci\u003EThe San Jose Mercury-News.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Contra-Cocaine scandal was originally exposed by Associated Press reporters Robert Parry and Brian Barger in 1985, but the major U.S. newspapers accepted the Reagan administration's denials and treated the story as a \"conspiracy theory.\"\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo, when Webb revived the story in 1996 for \u003Ci\u003EThe San Jose Mercury News\u003C\/i\u003E and described how some of the Contra cocaine fueled the spread of crack across urban America, the major newspapers again rallied to the defense of the Contras and the Reagan administration's legacy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe assault on Webb was led by \u003Ci\u003EThe New York Times, The Washington Post\u003C\/i\u003E and \u003Ci\u003EThe Los Angeles Times\u003C\/i\u003E - and was so ferocious that Webb's editors at the \u003Ci\u003EMercury News\u003C\/i\u003E sacrificed him to protect their own careers. Webb found himself cast out from the profession that he loved.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt didn't even matter that an internal CIA investigation by Inspector General Frederick Hitz confirmed, in 1998, that the CIA was aware of the Contra cocaine trafficking but had put its goal of ousting the Sandinistas ahead of any responsibility to expose the Contra criminality.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBecause of the false impression that Webb had manufactured a fake story, he remained unemployable in mainstream journalism. In 2004, with his life in tatters and his financial resources spent, Webb took his own life, a tragic casualty in the difficult fight for a truly free press in America, a press that doesn't just rubber stamp government propaganda and accept official lies as truth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003EJoe Lauria is editor-in-chief of \u003Ci\u003EConsortium News\u003C\/i\u003E and a former correspondent for\u003C\/b\u003E \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003ET\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003Ehe Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cb\u003E,\u003C\/b\u003E \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESunday Times\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E \u003Cb\u003Eof London and numerous other newspapers. He can be reached at\u003C\/b\u003E \u003Cb\u003Ejoelauria@consortiumnews.com\u003C\/b\u003E \u003Cb\u003Eand followed on Twitter @unjoe.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2020\/02\/10\/julian-assange-wins-2020-gary-webb-freedom-of-the-press-award\/\"\u003Econsortiumnews.com\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","_links":{"parent_art":[{"title":"170 ans de prison : les Etats-Unis annoncent 17 nouvelles inculpations contre Julian Assange","url":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/apicom\/id:156821,json:1"}]}}}

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