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My Take | As Assange walks free, multifaceted threats to journalism and the truth are bigger than ever
- Julian Assange’s case shows the danger of journalists being ensnared in legal entanglements when they do not play the power game
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Why you can trust SCMP
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Su-Lin Tanin Singapore
For many of us diehard journalists, Julian Assange’s release from jail this week might have reawakened the journalistic fire in our bellies.
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The WikiLeaks founder spent the last 12 years holed up in an embassy and a maximum-security prison for doing what journalists could only dream of – telling the truth by exposing the lies of governments, institutions, establishments and those in power.
Washington has pursued the Australian since he released in 2010 classified documents that revealed US abuse of prisoners, human rights violations and killing of civilians in the war it waged on Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s.
The now famous Collateral Murder video released by WikiLeaks showing the US army shooting civilians, including children, in Baghdad and laughing about it was very difficult viewing.
As Assange stepped onto Australian soil on Wednesday night a free man, having suffered for serving the basic democratic tenet of free speech and public interest, several things stand out, and they all do one thing – threaten journalism.
The plea deal that Assange signed to be free was no justice. It made him a criminal and set a possible dangerous precedent that if anyone exposed the crimes of the US government, they would be punished.
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