Wikileaks: Julian Assange’s Assassination Proves Journalism Matters
IS JULIAN Assange being smeared by a sex story? You could ridicule the Wikileaks’s founder for his inchoate Hunter S Thompson-styled jottings. You could wonder that Wikileaks, a terrific website full of news that others thought unfit to print (unless it complied with their agenda) has turned into gossip rag. But the sex story – an alleged rape – is the one that is sticking and doing damage.
Says the Swedish judiciary:
The Matter concerning Julian Assange has been detained in his absence charged with rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. Mr Assange had appealed the detention decision issued by Svea Court of Appeal.
Assange hears the charges and runs. He should hand himself in and allow Wikileaks to be bigger than his ego. He won’t. And so Assange and Wikileaks are tethered.
But there is hope. The operation to discredit Assange, punish him, evict him, and traduce his name is a big deal – it shows that Assange is a worry to some in power.
He is a concern to some at Anorak, too. Leaking military details as a war rages leaves the site’s pursuit of truth open to interpretation and begs the question: whose side are you on?
But Assange is big news. At the very least the hunt for his head is a public show that will shine a light on how the big state deals with an enemy who understands the media. Assange is a capitalist who wants to make a din. Says he:
I mean there’s enormous pressures to harmonize freedom of speech legislation and transparency legislation around the world – within the EU, between China and the United States. Which way is it going to go? It’s hard to see.
Let’s see if journalism still matters…
Posted: 5th, December 2010 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
