Journalists did not appreciate the implications for themselves of the contrived and false indictment of Julian Assange by a corrupt US government. It
was obvious to a few of us that the indictment by the US government, a
government constrained by the First Amendment, of a foreign national for
publishing leaked material, an action never before regarded as
espionage or a crime, was the beginning of the end of any Western
government ever again being held accountable by a free press.
Not that the Western World has a free press. It has a collection of presstitutes that serve as a Ministry of Propaganda for the ruling oligarchies.
Still, in principle it was possible that governments could be held accountable. But that possibility ended with Assange’s false indictment.
First of all, no honest government would have
spent years trying to invent a way to indict a journalist for practicing
journalism.
Second, no intelligent grand jurors with an
ounce of integrity would have been putty in the hands of a corrupt US
prosecutor and enable a prosecution that ensures the destruction of
accountable government.
Third, it was obvious that once America led the
way in shutting down the principle of a free press, governments of
other “Western democracies” would follow as soon as they could.
And follow they did. Assange’s
indictment led to raids by the “Australian Gestapo” on the home of News
Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst and on the headquarters of
the Australian Broadcasting Corp. See this.
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