Some good commentary from around the web:
- Glenn Greenwald – “…the indictment seeks to criminalize what journalists are not only permitted but ethically required to do: take steps to help their sources maintain their anonymity. As longtime Assange lawyer Barry Pollack put it: ‘The factual allegations … boil down to encouraging a source to provide him information and taking efforts to protect the identity of that source. Journalists around the world should be deeply troubled by these unprecedented criminal charges.’ “
- CJ Hopkins – “Assange has committed the cardinal sin of reminding them that actual “resistance” to the global capitalist empire is possible, but only if you’re willing to pay the price. Assange has been paying it for the last seven years, and is going to be paying it for the foreseeable future. Chelsea Manning is paying it again. The Gilets Jaunes protestors have been paying it in France. Malcolm X paid it. Sophie Scholl paid it. Many others throughout history have paid it.”
- John Pilger – “Real journalism is being criminalized by thugs in plain sight. Dissent has become an indulgence.”
- Matt Taibbi
- Chris Hedges
- Mike Krieger
- Ron Paul
- Anonymous via WashingtonsBlog, citing representatives of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Center for Constitutional Rights and Human Rights Watch.
