Upon the ruling by U.K.’s High Court to allow the extradition to the U.S. of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, questions about a free press in the United States of America are being asked, and answered, once again.
Recent reporting reveals a scary answer: America will continue to pick, choose, and abuse, what is and what isn’t ‘press freedom’.
On 29 October 2021, Salon called the Assange case ‘the most important battle for press freedom of our time’
If Assange goes to prison for exposing war crimes, it will mean the death of real national security reporting
Then on 14 December 2021, Salon published:
The execution of Julian Assange: He exposed the crimes of empire — and that can’t be tolerated
The WikiLeaks founder’s unforgivable sin was to expose the U.S. empire’s war crimes. For that, he faces death
The next day, 15 December 2021, The Guardian reported:
Scott Morrison, Australia Prime Minister, should advocate for Julian Assange when talking to Caroline Kennedy, American ambassador to Australia
Assange [Australian citizen] has been enfeebled by two years in a harsh UK prison, to the point allegedly of suffering a stroke, forced to sustain strip searches and handcuffs as if the British were processing a Hannibal Lecter and not just a troublemaking advocate of the media freedom the first amendment appears to guarantee.
The Editorial Board at The Guardian on 10 December 2021 called for the U.S. to set Julian Assange free:
The attempt to extradite the WikiLeaks founder is an assault on the press freedom that the Biden administration promises to promote
