• Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’m not going to write an entire paper on the differences between journalists and spies to satisfy an Internet stranger. Organizations like the NYT act completely differently with their sources than Assange did. They release documents only after carefully checking for information that can put people in danger, and they never do something for the sole purpose of harming a country.

    We know this law doesn’t apply to journalists because they tried to use it against them during the Cold War and the courts told them it wouldn’t fly. So all this hand wringing over civil rights is just concern trolling to defend someone who made themselves an enemy of the US by working with Russian intelligence agencies to interfere in our elections.

    Edit to add - if you really want to claim our civil courts didn’t have jurisdiction we could always have let the military handle it. We certainly wouldn’t be watching him go home right now though.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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      4 months ago

      That’s fine, I’m not going to accept the authority of a stranger in Lemmy to define what is and what isn’t journalism. It really just comes down to a disagreement whether we should strive for rule of law, or accept the law of the jungle, where might makes right.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Real journalists manage to do their jobs just fine in Western countries. Even the YouTubers. He clearly crossed the line.