Julian Assange apparently doesn’t like the vitriol with which Fox News pundits have covered him and WikiLeaks. Understandably. And well, like the badass he is, he won’t take Sarah Palin’s execution threats lying down. Apparently, Assange claims to have “insurance files” on Murdoch and News Corporation that WikiLeaks would release if he were killed.
According to the Guardian, Assange told one journalist that WikiLeaks possesses “504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organization and there are cables on Murdoch and News Corp.”
Is he bluffing? I doubt it. He wouldn’t make the claim if he didn’t have anything to offer up. And besides, Murdoch has some serious skeletons in his over-sized closet, methinks. Anyway, I love seeing someone stand up to the bully that is Fox News.
Honestly, the way WikiLeaks is being treated by the government isn’t surprising. Our government has quite a bit to hide, for better or worse. And clearly, it’s not interested in transparency. But the media? Well, to someone who understands just how much the mainstream media lusts after access, it shouldn’t be shocking that they abhor Assange and WikiLeaks. Unfortunately, most of the country accepts the narrative about WikiLeaks without a second thought, and that’s it. WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization with malice toward the US.
The media hates WikiLeaks because WikiLeaks is doing what the mainstream media refuses to do. However, Assange made a great point in his interview.
“I think what’s emerging in the mainstream media is the awareness that if I can be indicted, other journalists can, too,” he added. “Even the New York Times is worried. This used not to be the case. If a whistleblower was prosecuted, publishers and reporters were protected by the first amendment, which journalists took for granted. That’s being lost.”
That is appalling, and we should be out in the streets.
Snarkadelia 