Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been imprisoned in London for five years, while Texas journalist Priscilla Villarreal was only briefly detained at the Webb County Jail. But both were arrested for publishing information that government officials wanted to conceal. Assange and Villarreal argue that criminalizing such conduct violates the First Amendment. In both cases, the merits of that claim have been obscured by the constitutionally irrelevant question of who qualifies as a ‘real’ journalist. … President Joe Biden says he is ‘considering’ the Australian government’s request to drop the case against Assange. But mollifying a U.S. ally is not the only reason to reconsider this prosecution, which poses a grave threat to freedom of the press by treating common journalistic practices as crimes.” (05/01/24)
https://reason.com/2024/05/01/journalism-is-not-a-crime-even-when-it-offends-the-government/