(Photo courtesy of NBC News) “Julian Assange is home after years of fighting for his freedom.”
Maxwell Valin
Connector Editor
This summer, between all of the chaos of attempted assassinations and surprise changes in candidacy, you may have caught in the headlines that Julian Assange, an Australian journalist and the founder of WikiLeaks, was released from prison and allowed to return home after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. This concluded a 5-year period that he spent in prison for 18 federal charges, most of which being espionage charges surrounding his coordination with Chelsea Manning to compile and release classified information that appeared on WikiLeaks.
For the unfamiliar, the subject matter that the leaks Assange assisted in obtaining and publishing was inclusive of, but not limited to: US drone strikes in the Middle East, extreme methods of interrogation utilized in Guantanamo Bay, and evidence of espionage committed by the United States against the United Nations, among tens of thousands of other documents and videos that give reason to suspect the United States of America of war crimes and violations of international law. If you recall the leaking of Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 election cycle, this too was the result of Assange and WikiLeaks’ work.
To say that Assange was a victim of some modern form of McCarthyism due to his actions would be an understatement. As a result of his work, he was defamed as an agent of Russia, a spy, and a traitor to the United States government. However, there’s no solid evidence to suggest he received any of his information from foreign governments aside from mere accusations from government officials. In reality, the only thing he was ever guilty of was exposing the powerful for their wrongdoings.
The widespread criticism of Assange from politicians and news anchors across the many years he leaked information is a testament to the politicization of the corporate media that has occurred in recent years. Suppose you or I turn on the TV tonight to watch any mainstream cable news station. In that case, there is a guarantee that most of the information and reporting we will see will be nothing more than a curation of opinions, information, and talking points that have been greenlit by the politicians and donors (on either side of the aisle, depending on the station) for propagation.
This is what can be most adequately described as the Overton window of approved journalism. It also aids in promoting what many still believe is a battle between left-wing and right-wing politics in this country. Whether you’re watching Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow, the opinions you’re seeing are still being hosted and approved by a collection of donors somewhere that are okay with you seeing them.
Julian Assange, as well as his peers such as Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, and more, are examples of what happens when you step outside of this Overton window. When you engage in serious, real journalism that involves exposing the power and the corruption of those in charge, you gain a target on your back that suddenly unites the supposed “left-wing” and “right-wing” news outlets and politicians against you. Of course, at the same time, this perceived divide is simultaneously shattered to reveal the true nature of where the battle lines are drawn in this system. At the end of the day, it’s those who hold power against those who would expose and openly criticize their abuses of said power.
If you’re one of the many Americans in this country who wish to see our politicians “reach across the aisle” and “come together in unity” again, I have a simple set of instructions for you: expose what’s going on behind their closed doors, and illustrate their shared corruption. They’ll surely set aside their differences real quick. If there’s one lesson all of us can learn from the experiences endured by Julian Assange and his colleagues for their work, it’s that there’s a guaranteed limit on the also-guaranteed freedom of the press.
