While we're at it, free my boy Snowden

How is this not the onion? This seems to be a serious concern.

Yes, he stole top secret documents, but because of him, journalism was done. If he gets prosecuted, the US can just call every journalist a spy who looks dirty at the government.

And the best thing is? He ain’t even American, meaning the US can literally take everyone in the world because they see fit. It’s not about guilt or what he did, it’s about the president it sets

Agreed. Snowden first for me tho.

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He didn't even steal them (in my opinion), and any evidence I've seen showing that he facilitated, or coached the individual who did has been pretty spurious at best.

I think the Not the Onion bit is how much the media has historically been against Assange. This is the take they should have had with him right off the bat as it sets a bad precedence for how government treats the recipients of leaks.

Okay, true, he didn’t steal them, he just made them public… big difference, but the point I tried to make stays the same

Even for journalists what rakes in the clicks is important, you saw that with the Yakuza coverage in the early-mid 90’s in Japan. Papers didn’t cover them because the Yakuza gave them a lot of money. Same everywhere else, the news also caters to their demographics.

This. And too many people are willing to take him at his word because SOME of the information he's put out has been verified. He clearly has an agenda and I have no faith that he's catering the information, true or not, to paint a specific picture that may not align with reality. ( yes, you can tell a lie while speaking only truths )

Ehhh he tailor picked what to share and stopped sharing anything against his benefactors. It's basically fox news.

That is true, but does that matter? Journalism is still journalism. Newspapers need to get money as well, if you have a certain demographic you need to cater to them… If the journalism is good, does it matter what gets published and what doesn’t?

*precedent

I believe if you willfully lie or suppress opposing or conflicting information that is credible then you're likely to misrepresent situations and cause a reaction or feedback to them.

We see this on Fox news all the time. An informed public is vital. But a willfully lied to public is not. There are still echo chambered people who do not know the Jan 6th Capitol Attack wasn't antifa, wasn't Democrats, wasn't more than a tour, and so many more things. This influences them.

Assange influenced what others thought while preventing information that might conflict or balance.

In reality he should be seen as an unregistered political actor or saboteur in context. But how to properly classify and punish is a complicated task.

Yeah, English is not my first language :-)

Lol, gotta wonder what little secrets have not yet been exposed.

And the vice president

How is this not the Onion? It is completely logical for media outlets to not want Assange prosecuted.

The US legal system is based on precedent. There's a reason why the Obama administration chose not to prosecute Assange despite really wanting to - they called it "the New York Times Problem", in other words, if Assange can be prosecuted for publishing government documents that were given to him by a third party, so could every major press outlet that has reported on documents leaked to them by whistleblowers.

>If the journalism is good, does it matter what gets published and what doesn’t?

I think so. Let's say I have evidence company A and company B are both selling products that make your teeth fall out. But for whatever reason I only report the evidence about company A and I say nothing about about company B. The journalism is good and I'm not telling any lies but its completely reasonable to question my motivations.

Most journalist aren’t working for Putin. It’s a huge difference.

Of course the difference between real journalism and raw propaganda is incredibly important.

Like, a good example would be about the Yakuza in the early to mid 90’s. The journalism was there, it just wasn’t published because A) everyone was afraid of them and B) they lined everyone’s pockets not to write about what they did.

Good journalism isn’t propaganda, that isn’t journalism. Every idiot with a typewriter can make propaganda

Flipside, most news has to be sexy now because of social media. Every time there’s a mass shooting somewhere you read the last messages or see a video victims sent to their loved ones, it’s insane. I personally try to only consume text only news nowadays because of that

Not Oniony at all.