The Guardian view on Julian Assange’s extradition: a bad day for journalism
The decision by Priti Patel, the home secretary, to extradite the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US ought to worry anyone who cares about journalism and democracy. Mr Assange, 50, has been charged under the US Espionage Act, including publishing classified material. He faces up to 175 years in jail if found guilty by a US court. This action potentially opens the door for journalists anywhere in the world to be extradited to the US for exposing information deemed classified by Washington.
Most NZ Media rooms are now slavish cowards to the woke social media lynch mob, and the Woke’s denigration of Assange as a rapist means any coverage in NZ must be deplatformed and never spoken of.
The woke would eat their own young if they weren’t all vegans.
Incredibly Nicky Hager’s astounding witness evidence given in the show trail against Assange was utterly ignored by most NZ media.
This type of cowardly journalism’s irony is poignant because of course Assange is one of the most important voices in real journalism.
Without his work the war crimes, the murders, the abuses of power that damage all the people those Woke claim to care about would never have seen the light of day.
This stopped being about Justice a long time ago.
The American’s will torture him as a warning to anyone else who exposes their war crimes.
What a bitter day for democracy, journalism and progressive politics!
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100% in agreement Martyn!
It will be interesting to witness the US show trial against a non-citizen of the US who has stolen no information from them. (WTF!)
In the last few years we’ve witnessed how the Federal Prosecutor’s office and FBI have been weaponised by the Democrat Party, so expect a life sentence in solidarity confinement.
I disagree with your blaming of the media position on Assange on ‘wokeness’. NZ media support the torture of Assange because they support American empire and the murder and torture of the innocent.
I agree, but, in describing the media as “slavish cowards to the woke social media lynch mob,” rather than the venal puppet of the establishment it has always been, lets “the media” off the hook. If The Media remotely represented the principles it pretends to, the outrage that Julian Assange is being subjected to would have been stopped in its tracks long before the word “woke” became common parlance. And this fact goes to the very heart of everything that, week in and week out, The Daily Blog argues around. There is but edifice standing in the way of fixing the miseries of this world, but it was bought and paid for long ago by those who profit from them.
Since tying its economy to the US, the UK is becoming a police state, binding itself politically to increasing NATO belligerence. It is certainly no ally or supporter of justice, free speech and internationally-agreed human rights. The UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, who has just signed Assange’s life away in acceptance of the US demand for extradition, is also sponsoring a Public Order Bill before the UK Parliament that would allow the police to fit electronic ankle-tags on innocent people and ban them from taking part in protest marches and demonstrations.
Exactly. We all know who Priti Patel’s bosses are.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41853561
Assange is a traitor who put thousands of lives in danger to aggrandise his own ego. He is getting what he deserves.
Good on you Gaby.
Journalists deserve it. Sarcasm.
At least 45 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since 2000 according to the Palestinian Ministry of Information.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/12/infographic-the-journalists-killed-by-israeli-forces-since-2000
Terror is good. Sarcasm.
Daphne Caruana Galizia: Malta responsible for journalist death – inquiry
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58012903
Assassinating and persecuting journalists is a slippery slope and also why people no longer believe the news and thus we have plethoras of anti government groups such as anti vaxx and anti science, religious groups as well as the usual governments who get away with it, helped by the international legal community who do nothing.
gaby, he redacted all the names from the info published so how did he endanger anyone. I’ve done an admittedly cursory search and can’t find any case of someone dying because of wikileaks…if you can, produce the names….embarrassing liars isn’t a crime…or is it in your book?
Gaby is very mad because the work of Assange and other truth tellers meant that having illegally invaded Iraq for her people, they didn’t move on to Iran as was the initial plan.
Naturally, you believe that Gaby. After all, Assange exposed the crimes of your proxy murderers in Afghanistan and Iraq. He’s a traitor to your people.
British Justisn’t.
The Prosecution of Julian Assange
2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY4PTh3mtd8
https://www.joplinglobe.com/region/uk-govt-orders-julian-assanges-extradition-appeal-planned/article_03930289-8d01-5bf3-941a-632dfd22b584.html
100% – apparently torture of perceived war criminals (many of whom have no trial or legal representation and actually were never guilty) is ok by the woke and left and actually so is persecuting journalists. Since this case assassinating and putting journalists in prison, is at an all time high.
We all know good decent middle class types who wring their hands at injustices against third world children digging cobalt, yet they delight and virtue signal at driving an electric vehicle (for which theyve claim a government rebate). These are the same bunch who never fail to demand huge public salaries and middle class welfare whilst never really committing to any real help or welfare for the poor. But being “good” people they support LGBQ rights, any woke cause, and they read the Listener and Gaurdian.
You might think that they would loudly and vocally object to the treatment of Assange, but no. Like the Gaurdian journalism its all pretence. These people are the paid retinue of the “establishment”, even when its obvious that the establishment is wrong they will not gain say or object. Like the Gaurdian journalist they know at heart that rocking the boat results in dismissal from privelege. Bought and paid for. Assange is a threat to the PMCs world view, they will never demand justice for him because to do so would be to admit all the other injustices from which they benefit. Best ignore and virtue signal, look like a good fellow.
Since tying its economy to the US, the UK is becoming a police state, binding itself politically to increasing NATO belligerence. It is certainly no ally or supporter of justice, free speech and internationally-agreed human rights. The UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, who has just signed Assange’s life away in acceptance of the US demand for extradition, is also sponsoring a Public Order Bill before the UK Parliament that would allow the police to fit electronic ankle-tags on innocent people and ban them from taking part in protest marches and demonstrations.
A bit rich using this extract from the Grauniad – a rag that abandoned and vilified Assange after they got some headlines from the Wikileaks tranche. And Gaby, it was a Grauniad journalist who unlocked the files so that persons at risk could be identified – not Assange who was meticulous in vetting this.
I’d like to hear someone from NZ government about appalling situation
– but they are so far up the bum of the US/UK that I’m not counting on it.
didn’t know that liminal, though I already have a very low opinion of the grauniad, so anyone endangered lives they did, in effect their editor should be extradited not assange….comment please gaby.
Assange is not a journalist – he is a hacker. He wrecked Hilary Clinton’s electoral chances. He is an autistic egocentric lech. Despite this I don’t believe he should be extradited but he should have done jail time in Sweden.
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