Consortiumnews
Volume 24, Number 208--Independent Investigative Journalism Since 1995--July
27, 2018
The Gray Lady Thinks Twice About Assange's Prosecution
July 25, 2018
Though The New York Times itself has not reported it, it's No. 2 lawyer told
a group of judges that the prosecution of Julian Assange could have dire
consequences for the Times itself, explains Ray McGovern.
By Ray McGovern
Special to Consortium News
Well, lordy be. A lawyer for The New York Times has figured out that
prosecuting WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange might gore the ox of The Gray
Lady herself.
The Times's deputy general counsel, David McCraw, told a group of judges on
the West Coast on Tuesday that such prosecution would be a gut punch to free
speech, according to Maria Dinzeo, writing for the Courthouse News Service.
Curiously, as of this writing, McCraw's words have found no mention in the
Times itself. In recent years, the newspaper has shown a marked proclivity
to avoid printing anything that might risk its front row seat at the
government trough.
Stating the obvious, McCraw noted that the "prosecution of him [Assange]
would be a very, very bad precedent for publishers . he's sort of in a
classic publisher's position and I think the law would have a very hard time
drawing a distinction between The New York Times and WikiLeaks."
That's because, for one thing, the Times itself published many stories based
on classified information revealed by WikiLeaks and other sources. The paper
decisively turned against Assange once WikiLeaks published the DNC and
Podesta emails.
More broadly, no journalist in America since John Peter Zenger in Colonial
days has been indicted or imprisoned for their work. Unless American
prosecutors could prove that Assange personally took part in the theft of
classified material or someone's emails, rather than just receiving and
publishing them, prosecuting him merely for his publications would be a
first since the British Governor General of New York, William Cosby,
imprisoned Zenger in 1734 for ten months for printing articles critical of
Cosby. Zenger was acquitted by a jury because what he had printed was proven
to be factual-a claim WikiLeaks can also make.
At the Times HQ on Eighth Ave: Quietly realizing the consequences for
itself.
McCraw went on to emphasize that, "Assange should be afforded the same
protections as a traditional journalist." The Times lawyer avoided
criticizing what the United Nations has branded - twice - the "arbitrary
detention" of Assange and his incommunicado, solitary confinement-like
situation in the Ecuador embassy in London since March. Multiple reports
indicate the new government of Ecuador will evict Assange into the hands of
British police.
These days we need to be thankful for small favors. It's nice to know the
Times now considers Assange a journalist, even though it did not spring to
his defense when he was being widely branded a "high-tech terrorist" - as
can be seen here in my very last appearance on CNN's domestic broadcast
almost eight years ago.
Mike Pompeo, when he was CIA director, called WikiLeaks a "non-state,
hostile intelligence service," and Assange's lawyers believe there is
already a sealed indictment against him in the state of Virginia. Assange
fears that if he is arrested on flimsy bail skipping charges he will be
extradited to the United States.
Is the Fourth Estate Dead?
Ten years ago I contended that The Gray Lady - like the rest of the Fourth
Estate - was moribund. More recently, I have been saying it is dead. I now
stand corrected. Rumors of its death have been exaggerated. But how does one
characterize its current state?
Let me borrow a memorable phrase from philosopher Billy Crystal, playing
Miracle Max in "The Princess Bride," while trying to bring the character
Wesley back to life. He is just "mostly dead," Chrystal insisted.
And so it is with today's corporate media, with a tiny chance, now that The
New York Times, watching out for its own equities, might help Assange avoid
prosecution for practicing journalism. Actually, he has been accused so far
of no crime of any kind.
Eight years ago, when the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity gave Assange
its annual award, the Fourth Estate was a bit more than just a distant
memory. So we attempted to put his award in historical perspective. Below is
the textof the citation presented to Assange, together with the traditional
SAAI corner-brightener candlestick holder, by former UK Ambassador Craig
Murray (himself an SAAI laureate) and Daniel Ellsberg.
Sam Adams Associates Award
Julian Assange
It seems altogether fitting and proper that this year's award be presented
in London, where Edmund Burke coined the expression "Fourth Estate."
Comparing the function of the press to that of the three Houses then in
Parliament, Burke said:
".but in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sits a Fourth Estate more
important far than they all."
The year was 1787-the year the U.S. Constitution was adopted. The First
Amendment, approved four years later, aimed at ensuring that the press would
be free of government interference. That was then.
With the Fourth Estate now on life support, there is a high premium on the
fledgling Fifth Estate, which uses the ether and is not susceptible of
government or corporation control. Small wonder that governments with lots
to hide feel very threatened.
It has been said: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you
free." WikiLeaks is helping make that possible by publishing documents that
do not lie.
Last spring, when we chose WikiLeaks and Julian Assange for this award,
Julian said he would accept only "on behalf or our sources, without which
WikiLeaks' contributions are of no significance."
We do not know if Pvt. Bradley Manning gave WikiLeaks the gun-barrel video
of July 12, 2007 called "Collateral Murder." Whoever did provide that
graphic footage, showing the brutality of the celebrated "surge" in Iraq,
was certainly far more a patriot than the "mainstream" journalist embedded
in that same Army unit. He suppressed what happened in Baghdad that day,
dismissed it as simply "one bad day in a surge that was filled with such
days," and then had the temerity to lavish praise on the unit in a book he
called "The Good Soldiers."
Julian is right to emphasize that the world is deeply indebted to patriotic
truth-tellers like the sources who provided the gun-barrel footage and the
many documents on Afghanistan and Iraq to WikiLeaks. We hope to have a
chance to honor them in person in the future.
Today we honor WikiLeaks, and one of its leaders, Julian Assange, for their
ingenuity in creating a new highway by which important documentary evidence
can make its way, quickly and confidentially, through the ether and into our
in-boxes. Long live the Fifth Estate!
Presented this 23rd day of October 2010 in London, England by admirers of
the example set by former CIA analyst, Sam Adams
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical
Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He was an Army
infantry/intelligence officer and then a CIA analyst for a total of 30
years. He is co-founder of Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in
Intelligence.
