Leaders of NYT & 4 European news outlets have called on the US govt to drop charges against Julian Assange for soliciting/publishing classified information. (Case is about the 2010 @xymanning-leaked DOD/State files, not the 2016 Russia-hacked Dem emails). nytimes.com/2022/11/28/us/…
Here is the joint open letter: nytco.com/press/an-open-… NYT company spokesperson says the institutional decision to participate was made by the publisher (@AGSNYT) in consultation with the legal department (@davidmccraw). The newsroom (@nycscribe) was not involved.
The letter focuses on the Espionage Act charges, which could establish a precedent that investigative nat-sec journalistic activities can be treated as crimes. It does not call for dropping a hacking-related charge, saying only that "some" signatories are concerned about it, too.
Oops -- my apologies to @xychelsea for typing the wrong Twitter handle. x.com/elpinkfloydian…
Oops -- my apologies to @xychelsea for typing the wrong Twitter handle. x.com/elpinkfloydian…
@charlie_savage This is the Assange/FSB aka KBG cover story. Just as Roger Stone twisted MeToo to get Dems from power by playing on the movement’s tendency to knee jerk response, they are doing the same with press freedom. Julian Assange is not Daniel Ellsberg.
@charlie_savage The letter calls for dropping all charges. The "charge" you awkwardly frame as "hacking related" was never about hacking. "Twelve years after the publication of “Cable gate”, it is time for the U.S. government to end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets."
@charlie_savage Assange is not a journalist.
@charlie_savage NYT seriously thinks working with a hostile foreign government to attack the US is ok? NYT has no problem with Putin's hybrid war? This is a shameful decision.
@charlie_savage At least I noticed I was following you and remedied that