The frenetic mass media propaganda campaign against Julian Assange was easily the creepiest and most Orwellian thing I’ve ever witnessed. And now it is silent. It did its job and then disappeared, before the public could really notice what was happening. It’s absolutely stunning.
You wouldn’t know it now, but between late 2016 and Assange’s arrest social media was full of blue-checkmarked narrative managers falling all over each other to be the first to come up with the day’s hottest smear painting a heroic journalist as a villain. Day after day after day. Smearing Assange was one of the easiest ways for an aspiring journalist to show current and prospective employers that you’re on the side of the empire. He was a soft target you could kick to signal that you’ll say whatever the Pentagon wants so you can climb the media ladder.
The smear campaign pervaded every political faction in every part of the US-centralized power alliance. Where they couldn’t get away with openly smearing him they circulated rightist psyops about Trump and Assange secretly working together and the extradition actually helping Assange, which was effectively the same as smearing him. The overwhelming majority of mainstream opinions about Assange are the result not of his work or the life he’s lived, but of a concerted propaganda campaign the majority of which took place between late 2016 and Assange’s arrest in April 2019. People just aren’t aware they’ve been propagandized.
The smear campaign went silent so quickly because it is now impossible to paint yourself as a brave up-punching journalist while smearing someone who is being openly prosecuted for journalism. So they’ve slinked off into the shadows, hoping we’ll forget what they did. Let’s not.
❖
Our society is asking itself a very, very important question of the Assange case. The question we’re asking is this:
“Should journalists be jailed for exposing US war crimes? Yes or no?”
Our answer to this question will determine the future of our species.
Make no mistake, this question is all the Assange case is and has ever been about. Do not let the narrative managers twist it into being about anything other than this, because it isn’t. This is the question.
Do we want truth, or lies?
Do we want light, or darkness?
Do we want freedom, or slavery?
Do we want the right to know what the powerful are doing, or do we want to give them a private space to abuse us in?
Should journalists be jailed for exposing US war crimes? Yes or no?
The empire is trying to claim the right to imprison any journalist anywhere in the world who exposes its malfeasance. Our response to this claim absolutely will determine the fate of our species. We’re choosing whether the bastards get to keep holding the steering wheel or not.
❖
One of the weirdest mainstream political beliefs is that secretive government agencies who did evil things in the past just don’t do evil things anymore. This belief is based on literally nothing. It’s believed because it’s comfortable.
❖
Many, many nations have bad human rights records. When you find your mind focusing particularly on the ones the US empire doesn’t like, it’s because of propaganda.
❖
Western propaganda hasn’t gotten less advanced since the Iraq invasion, it has gotten more advanced. The Russiagate psyop and the smear campaigns against Assange and Corbyn make this abundantly clear. The idea that the lies and propaganda which led to the Iraq invasion were a one-off fluke is itself the product of propaganda. You need to be more critical of western narratives than with Iraq, not less.
Manipulating public thought at mass scale is a science. Scientific fields don’t magically become less sophisticated over time, they become more sophisticated. Every time they run a new mass-scale manipulation, whether it succeeds or fails, they learn from it. And they evolve.
❖
Psychedelics are beginning to get a fair hearing from science because neoliberalism is making everyone too crazy and depressed to turn the gears of the machine, so the machine is desperately looking for miracle cures to get the slaves functional again. Lucky for us this will work against them; if psychedelics had turned out to be a useful tool of social control they’d have remained legal, and the CIA wouldn’t have abandoned them decades ago.
❖
On January 20th America’s coasts will heave a huge sigh of relief. This sigh will be based entirely on ignorance and narative spin. Nothing will fundamentally change.
❖
People keep predicting coups, mass arrests and unprecedented upheavals in the US government because the mass media is acting very strange, which creates the illusion that the US government itself is acting very strange. Meanwhile the empire marches on completely uninterrupted.
What people are misperceiving is that it isn’t the US government that’s changing, it’s the international world order. The US is approaching post-primacy and is unleashing tons of propaganda to roll out international agendas to prevent this, hence the bizarre behavior. The information ecosystem looks wild, so America-fixated Americans get the mistaken impression that it’s their government that is behaving wildly. Meanwhile great care is taken to maintain stability in the hub of the global empire, so all these prophecies of upheaval keep shooting blanks.
In other words it’s not Trump or Biden who’s on the precipice of being unseated by a huge paradigm-shifting upheaval: it’s the US empire itself.
❖
It would be so dumb if we kill ourselves with nuclear war. Imagine after all the other things we’ve been worrying about, we see the mushroom clouds and we’re like “So this is how it ends? With all those weapons we deliberately invented and stockpiled for the explicit purpose of ending it?”
❖
The most powerful new year’s intention is to sincerely want to remove the blocks to your healing. Whether those blocks be mental, emotional, physical or out there in the real world, health is your natural state and you are safe to let go of anything impeding your health.
❖
Humanity will never move into a healthy way of functioning in collaboration with each other and with our ecosystem until we relinquish our fear-based attachment to the status quo that is driving us toward armageddon. As André Gide says, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
______________________________
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52 responses to “Never Forget How The MSM Smeared Assange: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”
Julian Assange’s extradition verdict is being announced now. To follow the court hearing, see for example:
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List: JA Extradition Hearing — Courage Foundation
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1231878830870188032
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Julian Assange news — live: WikiLeaks founder’s US extradition to be decided in UK court — The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/julian-assange-news-live-wikileaks-extradition-us-b1781919.html
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Rebecca Vincent — Director of International Campaigns, Reporters Without Borders
https://twitter.com/rebecca_vincent
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Live from outside court in London as verdict in Assange’s extradition case is announced — Ruptly
Judge’s decision: No extradition. The US government can appeal.
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Some live threads:
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Assange Defense Committee
https://twitter.com/DefenseAssange/status/1346030612533149697
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Kevin Gosztola — Shadowproof
https://twitter.com/kgosztola/status/1346026028410556417
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Richard Medhurst — Journalist
https://twitter.com/richimedhurst/status/1346028741101760512
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Stefania Maurizi — Il Fatto Quotidiano
https://twitter.com/SMaurizi/status/1346034541979430915
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(See the previously linked list for many more).
I am making over $9k a month working part time. I stored being attentive to different human beings inform me how much money they are able to make on line so I decided to lok into it. AMs well, it turned into all actual and has completely modified my life.
That is what I do….-!~!~!~!…. Home Profit System
Live from Court #AssangeCase — Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign
More information:
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Defend Assange Campaign — Twitter
https://twitter.com/DefendAssange
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Consortium News — independent journalism — is live now with guests to discuss the judge’s decision, which accepts all US arguments but discharges Julian Assange for health reasons only.
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WATCH: CN Live! New Episode—‘Judgement Day’ — Consortium News
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/01/03/watch-cn-live-new-episode-judgement-day/
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Consortium News — Twitter
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews
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CN Live! S2E24 JULIAN ASSANGE: JUDGEMENT DAY
I am afraid that this will be a VERY dangerous time for Assange. His being released for health reasons, namely risk of suicide, instead of the obvious illegality of his detention, will set him up for being “suicided” a la Epstein, or killed by a “lone nut” a la JFK, MLK, RFK, etc. His only real hope would be to successfully jump bail during the appeals process, disappear, and seek a new identity. That avenue is fraught with risk as well. Trump may issue a pardon on Wednesday, probably just for his own egotistical reasons if he does so, but I think Assange will still need to disappear if he wants to live.
Skip Scott wrote:
> His being released for health reasons . . . instead of the obvious illegality of his detention
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Yes, WikiLeaks is mentioning it:
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“WikiLeaks’ Kristinn Hrafnsson: ‘It is a win for Julian Assange – but it is not a win for journalism. The US government should drop their appeal and let Julian go free.”
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1346093319638626305
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But tomorrow will be another day. Today, we can celebrate for Julian…
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Cackling Julian Assange Disintegrates Into Lines Of Code As Baffled Authorities Attempt To Handcuff Him — The Onion
https://www.theonion.com/cackling-julian-assange-disintegrates-into-lines-of-cod-1833977866
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Boom Goes Julian – Stevie Big Gee – gs made for good people
I quit working at shoprite to work online and with a little effort I easily bring in around $45 to 85 per/h.GQW Without a doubt, this is the easiest and most financially rewarding job I’ve ever had. I actually started 6 months ago and this has totally
changed my life….
WE MUST NEVER FORGET indeed, and the other half, just as important, is WE WILL NEVER FORGIVE!!
After the Iraq invasion, the U.S. military used Iraq to test and develop techniques in social control that are now being used in the U.S. and elsewhere.
“The frenetic mass media propaganda campaign against Julian Assange was easily the creepiest and most Orwellian thing I’ve ever witnessed.”
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This won’t be the last you’ll see, either. It is 2021 of course. The New Abnormal. And it’s way early.
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“The question we’re asking is this: Should journalists be jailed for exposing US war crimes?”
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Embedded in that question is another behavioral everyone should really be asking.
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“Do we want truth, or lies? Do we want light, or darkness? Do we want freedom, or slavery?”
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In each case, Empire has one answer and We the People have another.
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“One of the weirdest mainstream political beliefs is that secretive government agencies who did evil things in the past just don’t do evil things anymore.”
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Evil isn’t evil if one believes evil is not evil and gets paid for that.
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“Many, many nations have bad human rights records.”
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And who else has bad human rights records? Lots of husbands and wives.
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“On January 20th America’s coasts will heave a huge sigh of relief.”
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According to Edgar Cayce, one day both coasts will wake up one day under a ton of seawater.
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“It would be so dumb if we kill ourselves with nuclear war.”
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Today’s ‘To Do’ list: 1. Have breakfast. 2. Vacuum the carpets. 3. Stay out of nuclear war. 4. Tomorrow: Same list.
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“André Gide says, ‘Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.’
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And sometimes, we need to let go of the oars as well. See where the current takes us.
Whatever society deems good and appropriate becomes so. Slavery, child labor, etc. and much worse have been accepted as normal. Gladiators killing in thr arena was cheered. Just the next step up from modern day football. When society loses its internal moral compass, all oddities go mainstream. Mention of a few would today will get you derided or attacked.
Only journalists who dutifully expose the inner workings of the crime syndicate are persecuted, prosecuted, suicided or murdered. History is full of the silencing of journalist’s who step up and stand up to corruption and crimes against humanity; journalists who have the integrity and courage to speak out, into the darkness and shine the light of truth and justice on evil.
`
Their stories are revered and live forever.
`
The global crime syndicate always thinks they will make an example of hero journalists like Assange, but they only make their own situation worse. There will always be people willing to make sacrifices to improve our planet. And they are creating more.
`
It’s just a matter of time before everyone realizes what they are. They, themselves, will no longer be able to hide from the monsters they have become. They will die in misery and be remembered by history as just that.
`
Thank you for your courage Mr. Assange.
https://joyb.blogspot.com/2013/01/collateral-murder-stills.html
Brigitta Jonsdottir produced Collateral murder.
In this video she gives a great interview and describes how she was attacked by the US military.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Mxy_sll-Q
Julian’s story is not isolated to Julian alone. Ways of power are being set that will determine the future. Julian is a pawn in a global game. Likely Julian’s case will seal our fate. Unless you care.
President Trump,
As your presidential term comes to an end, you have a golden opportunity to defend the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and the press, which has allowed you to reach a national audience and gain a large, devoted following over the past five years. If the U.S. government continues to persecute and prosecute Julian Assange and Edward Snowden for telling the truth about the government’s crimes, this keystone of our liberty will be destroyed, and we will all suffer, yourself most especially.
By dropping the charges against Assange and pardoning Snowden, you will ensure your legacy as a champion of free speech and the press. In addition, you will deal a serious blow to the dangerous trifecta of Mainstream Media, Silicon Valley, and the Deep State’s Intelligence Community in their quest for total control of the information that reaches the American people. If these powerful, unelected and unaccountable interests succeed in dominating the public narrative and censoring inconvenient facts and competing voices, Americans will be robbed of the ability to make informed political and economic choices in their own best interests, you will be defined in the public mind as the root of all that is evil in American government and society, and the way will be paved for the rise of a totalitarian state. Your action or inaction at this critical point in our nation’s history is in my view the most important decision of your political career. For your own sake and for ours, free Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, and take the lead to Make America Great Again.
If Biden gets in, it won’t matter WHO’s been pardoned. And there will be no reason to ever ‘vote’ again.
This week is HUGE – for the entire world – not just USA…
I did not give my government permission to murder innocents in my name.
Assange has been verbally pilloried by the U.S. government and media, but it is not alone., Assange also exposed the crimes of other countries. What country, or individual person, would not want their worst atrocities kept secret? But, eventually, one lie pied atop another lie that had been piled atop one more lie, will out itself, because the foundation will crumble from the weight above it. Anyone that thinks that Assange, rather than government, is the problem, just hasn’t been paying attention.
Free Julian Assange!
Caity, I find in inconceivable that you haven’t seen the movie and/or read the book, but if you haven’t seen ‘On The Beach,’ you most certain should. The book was written by Nevil Shute and the 1959 movie starred Gregory Peck. Everyone should, by the next time that the topic of nuclear war is discussed.
Mr Assange needs to release all he’s got regarding Dominion / election fraud.
If Biden steals this, it’s over.
Everyone knows what happened – as in, the entire world…
“What people are misperceiving is that it isn’t the US government that’s changing, it’s the international world order. The US is approaching post-primacy and is unleashing tons of propaganda to roll out international agendas to prevent this, hence the bizarre behavior.” Clear as a bell concerning the “reporting” about warmongering. Not so clear concerning the “reporting” about the pandemic. Ask yourself, does the pandemic ultimately serve the interests of American Empire or threaten to undermine it? While a case can be made either way, the pandemic has exponentially more potential IMHO to damage or derail the empire than to strengthen or advance it. Again, ask yourself, in the eyes of the world, has America ever looked so bad as it does right now, so inept, so ignorant, so divided, so inhumane? And that’s just talking about image and appearance, not even touching upon the utterly devastating economic and social effects about to unfold in the lives of millions upon millions of American citizens who constitute its essential working class. Could more fertile soil be created to swiftly grow a Second American Revolution? And could something like “tripping out” possibly damp it down this time around? So if “they” planted this pandemic like they may well have planted psychedelics back in the 60s, I submit that a worse political decision has not been made since Hitler said, “What the fuck, let’s invade Russia.”
“The smear campaign pervaded every political faction in every part of the US-centralized power alliance. Where they couldn’t get away with openly smearing … they circulated rightist psyops.”
And, these “perfected” tactics now apply to virtually every “opposing” voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLv8-kviksY
There is no hope for Mr Assange with a people that considers that life is no more than avoiding to get sick and keeps on casting their vote in the elections organized by the elites which have jailed Mr Assange.
We are truly living in the return of the days of Noah just before the return of Jesus. Decadence is everywhere.
Keeping my Rosary on hand!
This coming week should be very interesting. Julian faces a court of Just-Us on Monday, and His Royal Orangeness has his big day on Wednesday. Trumpers are supposedly going to descend on DC en masse. Wouldn’t it be a real shit show if he decided to announce a pardon of Julian in front of a crowd that size? It’d be “Real Theater” that maybe Trump’s ego won’t be able to resist. Let’s hope.
Trump said he would pardon Assange if he was re-elected.
Let’s home he does it anyway.
Common President Trump! Show those Democrats!
Skip Scott and Nylene13 wrote:
> Trump . . . pardon
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Do you mean like this? If only…
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PixelHELPER: “Hello @realDonaldTrump Here you can see #howto pardon Edward @Snowden & Julian #Assange. You should respond to thousands of pardon requests from people around the world https://pixelhelper.org/ASSANGE #FreeAssange #FreeAssangeNOW”
https://twitter.com/PixelHELPER/status/1340738121110069251
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Pardon of Julian Assange & Edward Snowden from Donald Trump, President of the United States — PixelHELPER International — DeepFake Laboratoty
Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
> The frenetic mass media propaganda campaign against Julian Assange was easily the creepiest and most Orwellian thing I’ve ever witnessed. And now it is silent. It did its job and then disappeared, before the public could really notice what was happening. It’s absolutely stunning.
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It’s true that this happened after everyone saw that the US indictment plainly aimed to outlaw receiving and publishing whistleblowers’ public interest disclosures on unlawfully covered-up crimes and corruption. That is, aimed to set a historic legal precedent effectively ending investigative journalism and therefore the free press.
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The indictment went so far that it looked like what the national security deep state could produce if they pursued to take absolute power. A coup against the press.
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Yes, as you observed, after this the careerist bastards mostly ceased their smear campaign against Assange. And most other journalists keep silent, still fearing to lose their jobs if they didn’t toe the line about this and any other issue.
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*However, there is a bright side.*
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Even in the mainstream media, in the middle of the silence, some voices are increasingly raising here and there, and not just to say “please don’t do this to us”, but very directly stating:
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Julian Assange’s Indictment Aims at the Heart of the First Amendment — The New York Times Editorial Board — May 23, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/opinion/julian-assange-wikileaks.html
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The Guardian view on Julian Assange: do not extradite him — Editorial — The Guardian — Dec 18, 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/18/the-guardian-view-on-julian-assange-do-not-extradite-him
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Newspaper editor who ‘spectacularly’ fell out with Julian Assange says WikiLeaks founder should not be prosecuted for ‘doing what journalists do’ — The Independent — Dec 31, 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/julian-assange-wikileaks-extradition-latest-rusbridger-b1780643.html
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And over 1600 courageous journalists from 99 countries have signed so far to free Julian Assange and defend the free press:
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Speak up for Assange — International journalist statement in defence of Julian Assange
https://speak-up-for-assange.org
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Finally, let’s remind, as Caitlin said in yesterday’s article, *tomorrow* (Monday) is the day of… you know:
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> On Monday January 4th a UK judge will be ruling on whether or not to allow the process of Assange’s extradition to the United States to move forward.
It would be helpful to compile a list of those MSM journalists who were most active in smearing and, in some cases (e.g. Luke Harding of the Guardian), actively complicit in the persecution case against Assange.
Here are just a few who have written/broadcast scurrilous smear pieces about Assange:
– Luke Harding (aforementioned ‘Judas’ of The Guardian)
– Kathleen Parker (Associated Press)
– Christie Blatchford (National Post)
– Tabetha Southey (Globe and Mail)
– Terry Glavin (Macleans)
– David Leigh (The Guardian)
– Michael Weiss (The Atlantic)
– Peter Greste (Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (Lol!) )
– Kathy Kiely (The Conversation)
– Laurel Leff (The Conversation)
– Tony Walker (ABC)
– Sarah Ferguson (ABC)
– Joe Roberts (Metro)
– Gerard Couzens (The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror)
– Haley Ott (CBS)
– Stephen McDermot (The Journal)
– Alex Ward (Vox)
– Nick Davies (Another ‘Judas’: The Guardian)
– Carole Cadwalladr (The Guardian)
– Marina Hyde (The Guardian)
– Hadley Freeman (The Guardian)
– Suzanne Moore (The Guardian)
– Jo Becker (NYT)
– Eric Schmidt (NYT)
– Steven Erlanger (NYT)
– Bill Keller (NYT)
– John Sweeney (BBC)
– Jon Sopel (BBC)
– Chiarra Giordano (The Independent)
– Stuart Miller (BBC)
– Christina Patterson (Independent)
– David Aaronovitch (The Times)
– Stuart Miller (The Guardian)
– Joan Smith (The Independent)
– Robert Shrimsley (Financial Times)
– Tim Dowling (a total w*nker: The Guardian)
– Caroline Hawkey (BBC)
– Ian Dunt (Politics UK)
– John Lloyd (Reuters)
– Patrick Strudwick (Gay Times)
– Stephen Glover (Daily Mail)
– Deborah Orr (The Guardian)
– Edward Lucas (The Economist)
– David Allen Green (New Statesman)
– Shaun Walker (The Guardian)
– Rod Liddle (The Times)
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
A motley crew indeed!
Cornelius Pipe wrote:
> It would be helpful to compile a list of those MSM journalists who were most active in smearing . . .
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And on the other hand, in this really defining — dark or light — issue, there is also the opposite side, the freedom of the press side.
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Publications and press/media organizations that have expressed opposition to the indictment and extradition of Julian Assange include for example:
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– Australian Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA)
– Bloomberg News
– Blueprint for Free Speech
– Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
– Consortium News, independent journalism
– Courage Foundation, legal defense fund for whistleblowers and journalists
– Digital Rights Watch, Australia
– Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
– FAIR Media Watch
– Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF)
– French journalists’ unions (SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT Journalistes)
– IFEX, global network of organizations defending and promoting freedom of expression as a human right
– International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)
– International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
– Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
– National Union of Journalists, UK (NUJ)
– PEN International
– Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
– Reporters Without Borders / Reporters Sans Frontières (RWB/RSF)
– The Guardian
– The New York Times Editorial Board
– The New Yorker
– The Washington Post
– WikiLeaks, press/media organization publishing whistleblowers’ public interest disclosures
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And more…
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Great journalists, editors, and publishers who have defended Julian Assange, and thus freedom of the press, include:
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– Aaron Maté, journalist at The Grayzone, The Nation…
– Abby Martin, investigative journalist, founder of the Empire Files
– Alan MacLeod, journalist at MintPress News
– Alex Christoforou, journalist at The Duran
– Alexander Mercouris, editor-in-chief of The Duran
– Amy Goodman, broadcast journalist, host of Democracy Now!
– Ari Melber, attorney and journalist for NBC News
– Caitlin Johnstone, writer, independent journalist
– Cassandra Fairbanks, political activist and journalist at The Gateway Pundit and other publications
– Cenk Uygur, broadcaster, The Young Turks
– Charles Glass, award-winning journalist, author, broadcaster, publisher
– Chris Hedges, award-winning journalist at ScheerPost, previously at The New York Times, Truthdig…
– Dan Cohen, journalist at RT America, filmmaker
– David Talbot, journalist, author, founder of Salon magazine
– Dean Baquet, The New York Times’ executive director
– Elizabeth Vos, journalist at Consortium News
– Ewen MacAskill, Scottish journalist, The Guardian
– Gareth Porter, award-winning investigative journalist, historian, author
– Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, previously at The Intercept as co-founder
– James Risen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at The Intercept, previously at Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.
– Jimmy Dore, stand-up comedian, political commentator, host of The Jimmy Dore Show.
– Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News
– John C. O’Day, journalist at Common Dreams, FAIR…
– John Pilger, award-winning investigative journalist, documentary film maker
– Jonathan Cook, writer, award-winning British journalist in the Middle East
– Kerry O’Brien, award-winning Australian journalist
– Kevin Gosztola, journalist, author, documentary filmmaker, managing editor of Shadowproof, co-host of UnauthDisPod
– Kristinn Hrafnsson, Icelandic investigative journalist, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks
– Lee Camp, stand-up comedian, author, journalist, broadcaster, host and head writer of Redacted Tonight
– Margaret Kimberley, editor, columnist, author, co-founder of Black Agenda Report
– Mark Curtis, British historian and journalist, editor of Declassified UK
– Marty Baron, Washington Post’s executive director
– Matt Taibbi, author, journalist, contributing editor for Rolling Stone
– Max Blumenthal, journalist, editor of The Grayzone, co-host of Moderate Rebels
– Michael Brooks, late host of The Michael Brooks Show
– Michael Tracey, independent journalist
– Natália Viana, Brazilian investigative journalist, director at Agencia Pública
– Patrick Cockburn, award-winning journalist, Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times and The Independent
– Patrick Henningsen, executive editor of 21st Century Wire
– Rania Khalek, journalist, producer and host at Soapbox, co-host of UnauthDisPod and Left Bitches
— Raúl Ilargi Meijer, editor and founder of The Automatic Earth
– Robert Fisk, late award-winning journalist, author, worked for the Newcastle Chronicle, the Sunday Express, The Times, The Independent
– Robert Parry, late award-winning investigative journalist, founder and editor of Consortium News, previously at the Associated Press (AP), Newsweek, PBS’ Frontline
– Sally Burch, British journalist and human rights activist in Ecuador, executive director of Agencia Latinoamericana de Información ALAI
– Serge Halimi, editorial director of Le Monde diplomatique
– Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, author, worked for The New York Times, The New Yorker, London Review of Books
– Stefania Maurizi, investigative journalist for la Repubblica
– Tucker Carlson, journalist, host of Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News
– Vanessa Beeley, independent researcher and journalist, publishes at 21st Century Wire, MintPress News, UK Column…
.
And many more…
Great list. The many more Assange supporters in media includes others at Black Agenda Report besides Margaret Kimberley: Glen Ford, Ajamu Baraka, and Danny Haiphong, and probably everyone there.
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I’d also like to acknowledge @Doctors4Assange, including Dr. Jill Stein (who is a medical doctor and Green Party candidate for president in 2012 and with Ajamu Baraka in 2016). She re-tweeted Caitlin’s great list of Assange smears today (which I have used recently), and also Jill Stein tweeted more people who should be acknowledged for their support of Julian Assange, and this tweet today:
“That mental health concerns blocked Assange’s extradition is a huge tribute to UN rapporteur @NilsMelzerNils & @Doctor4Assange. Despite repression & ridicule they laid bare the campaign of brutal psychological torture against Assange for all the world to see.”
https://twitter.com/DrJillStein/status/1346143538527035396
In general it would be useful to have a list — a wiki — of people of journalists and others who had promoted lies, misconstructions, deceptions, etc., along with quotations or citations of the lies etc., relevant facts (if any), defenses, backtrackings, observations, etc., something along the lines of the sites dealing with urban legends. To some extent Google or any other search engine can be used in this way, but many journalists, propagandists, and so on seem to have ways of concealing their past misdeeds. I don’t mean for the wiki to exhibit bad opinions; only deceptions about factual matters. For example, when you see a reference to Assange as a ‘rapist’ you know the person uttering it is deliberately misleading his or her audience.
The hall of shame.
And yet, reading this kind of post also stokes fear, a more primal fear of the world we live in no matter what the scenario. There is nothing that has happened that wasn’t supposed to happen, and whatever happens next, and next, and next will always be just what’s happening.
Some people say that ” journalists ” have made ” journalism ” a dirty word. The MSM sure has debased itself time after time. Heroes like Julian Assange make the phonies look terrible. Real honest ” journalism ” is hard to find in todays slimeworld.
Sorry, but I forgot the MSM long ago. I will occasionally look at some for entertainment purposes. Just to see how deep the male bovine fecal matter has gotten. To see what they are pretending is journalism lately. The CIA infiltrated it at least 50 years ago, the starting date is unclear because the CIA wished it to be unclear. It became blatantly obvious after they murdered JFK. They were so deep in bed with “official” account it was pitiful. The news networks spent more time and money covering the OJ Simpson trial than they did the murder of a president by his own government. A lot more. Today they are a party to the incarceration or banishment of the greatest heroes of our time. Manning, Snowden, and especially Assange. In Assange’s case they may end up being accomplices to murder by torture. Anyone who gives MSM any credibility at all, regarding anything, has a serious mental problem. They do occasionally get the weather forecast right. Usually after it has become obvious.
Join the dots: Trump pardons Blackwater mercenaries who shot up a village in Iraq, killing 14 wounded 17 civilians.
Assange exposed “Collateral murder” video of U.S. mercenaries ordered to shoot up a village from an Army helicopter. If Assange was ‘ fighting the system’ why did he release this story as an “exclusive” to MSM news fronts like New York Times, instead of alternative on- line sites.
Webster Tarpley claims Wikileaks is a CIA “ limited hangout” operation, Assange became a hapless dupe due to being compromised. Instead of being imprisoned as a youth for hacking the Pentagon, a deal was struck for him to front this disinformation campaign Wikileaks.
The “expose’s “ in early Wikileaks releases always made America’s enemies look a monstrous threat to democracy or world peace but revelations about the U.S. infractions were more benign, waste of money, price gouging (Halliburton)
Often declassified, low level ‘ secret’ documents’ weird or bizarre programs. Mostly just infotainment with occasional shock value but largely unverified.
Releasing ‘collateral murder’ got him a big foot up the arse from his masters, in the form of the rape charges in Sweden. Made by two CIA assets who eventually retracted the charges after Julian got smacked down by the “Clintonistas” when he exposed the Hilarys email scandal.
In my mind, the outrageous, torture of mercy & justice being waged here against Julian Assange is not unique, it was a well worn option for the rogues to choose. Every time Julian Assange comes to mind ( often) I can’t help but think of Bobby Sands M.P. Died in British prison after 43 day hunger strike for daring to demand civil rights reform in Northern Ireland. R.I.P.
Some food for thought, dear people, bon appetite
(Captcha is just grouse n’ it?)
The very worst of the pseudo-leftists — The Guardian, The Nation — threw Julian under the bus and I will never, ever forget it. You had the likes of Katha Pollitt in the Nation calling him a rapist and that toad Luke Harding at the Guardian giving away the password to the files and then smearing Julian five ways to Sunday. The worst enemy of the people is the bourgeois middle class liberal, and always has been. These people make nice fat salaries and enjoy nice comfortable lives. They aren’t going to let the light of truth disrupt their cushy social positions.
Spot on Carolyn.
The $mug, educated middle cla$$ are the greatest threat to the survival of humanity.
They are $atan’$ $oldier$.
I am making a good salary online from home.I’ve made 97,999 dollar.s so for last 5 months working online and I’m a full time student. I’m using an online business opportunity I’m just so happy that I found out about it……..Read More
When the infirmities of a situation come face to face with the surviving power of that situation and if the infirmities are too great and the surviving power is too weak another civilization simply fades away.
you oughta get these published….oooops! sorry. too much truth.
they say there are 6 publishers in aMerdRica. wrong…only one. we gotta simply talk to one another…listen to the soul spirits welling up…
shun the loudmouths who know nothing but ego.
old lady helped me in the grocery store today. i was lost–tons of shit on my mind. i’m old too.
she asked what i wanted. i thot about that a minute : went thru peace love and understanding…held that cliche back, and said carrot and ginger soup in a box.
is this it? she asked, pointedly. why yes, i went. thank you.
that was all. i nearly cried.
i really like clicking i’m not a robot
Here’s how we spun this in Canada in 2017. Write a meta-narrative about the narrative itself. Tell “all sides”—we do have marginally longer attention spans than Americans we like to think — but go with the American flow. Also add a happy ending, however desperate and stupid.
Read it and weep.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/julian-assange-arrested-london-hero-or-villain-reputation-1.5095027
Here’s how we spun this in Canada in 2017. Write a meta-narrative about the narrative itself, with a sprinkle of human interest and empathy. We do have a longer attention span than the US news churn but just enough to feel smug. We appear to tell “all sides” but go with the American flow in the end. Of course, tack on a happy ending—Assange faces “up to 5 years in prison” but he will get some fresh air now that he’s out of the embassy.
Read it and weep.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/julian-assange-arrested-london-hero-or-villain-reputation-1.5095027
The west needs to stop pretending we have a free press. Better to just control the media like Russia and China. Then we dont have to feign outrage when corruption is exposed. We know the press is not free and that Assange is screwed. That we have to openly admit it truly upsets us. We can no longer pretend.
The media have been generally controlled for a long time. In the past, since it took a lot of capital to set up a newspaper or television station, they were controlled through business relationships. Then, with the advent of cheap publication available to ordinary people, the present crisis about social media developed. Hence the considerable efforts to censor such as Facebook and Twitter. Since these run through servers, the powerful can still throttle them, but there doesn’t seem to be any obvious way they can censor peer-to-peer communication, which will become more prominent as the present social media are choked off. See such as Peertube, an uncensored alternative to Youtube.
Social media is the number one reason they have to openly censor now. Trump did not drain the swamp but he exposed much that was previously hidden from the public.
You should adopt a new acronym and make it mainstream. MSMPM or MSM-PM for Main Steam Media Propaganda Machine.
I prefer Streaming Hi-def Interactive Television.
The New York Times was one of the main smearers, after publishing what wikileaks published. Nobody is wondering if the New York Times will ever be released from jail.
Here in Australia, the gutlessness of our elected’ representatives on the issue of Assange has been sickening to watch.
By their obeisance they are complicit in murder. Mass murder.
Agree. Nearly all of our politicians are complicit by either endorsing the smears or by staying silent. They live in fear of Murdoch’s Media, which hangs over Australia and its feeble government like a thundercloud.
It is indeed a quandary. Which is more guilty, those putting out the dictate, or those perfectly willing to abide it?
Tyrants do not create tyranny, submission does.
Masters don’t create slavery, slaves do.