Does Assange indictment set dangerous precedent for journalists?

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'What he is accused of doing is exactly what professional journalists do every day – seeking, receiving and publishing important information about our government,' says law professor Sonja West. WorldNews

In a bid to head off a stampede of criticism from press freedom groups, Assistant Attorney General John Demers said:"Julian Assange is no journalist.""This is not journalism," Rhodes said on his"Pod Save the World" podcast.

But others note that the events date back to 2010, long before the 2016 presidential election campaign, when WikiLeaks published documents about the Democratic Party obtained by Russian intelligence. "This is an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration's attacks on journalism, and a direct assault on the First Amendment."For Floyd Abrams, a prominent constitutional law specialist,"the question, I think, should not be whether Assange is a journalist but whether the First Amendment protects his conduct.""If Julian Assange is convicted...

"What makes the indictment against Assange so concerning is that it exposes just how vulnerable journalists are under the Espionage Act," West said, saying the law is written"very broadly."from within the government like no White House before it, but did not indict any journalists under the law, and also elected not to file such charges against Assange.

 

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