The New Assange Indictment Endangers Journalism
A prosecution under the Espionage Act is not only dangerous but also unnecessary.
Put him on trial, not American journalism.
Photographer: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFPWhen the Justice Department unsealed a March 2018 indictment of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange last month, there was a reasonable case to be made that his prosecution would avoid setting a dangerous precedent against press freedom.
The original indictment charged Assange with computer hacking on the novel theory that he coached Private Chelsea Manning on how to crack passwords on Department of Defense computers that stored the reams of secret diplomatic cables Wikileaks eventually published. Journalists routinely encourage sources to encrypt their texts and phone calls. But hacking is not reporting. The government could win that case against Assange without criminalizing the receipt of classified information.