Except that this was a private speech given to a meeting of judges by a lawyer.
There was no reportage of it in the New York Times. The large majority of
people don't get their news from Consortium News which is where this article
appeared. The majority of people never hear certain factds, and they hear just
one interpretation of what is going on, or two interpretations, Democratic and
Republican, or the Washington consensus. And to most of them, it's all a lot of
background noise.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2018 11:40 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Gray Lady Thinks Twice About Assange's
Prosecution
Good for the New York Times. Woven throughout this article is the classic
example of biased journalism.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/27/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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.
