Chris Hedges, Stella Assange and Matt Kennard discuss the implications of the Julian Assange case and the demise of mainstream journalism.
Hedges, formerly of The New York Times, and Kennard of the Financial Times, explain what it’s like to work within the confines of establishment journalism and Stella Assange makes an impassioned plea for the survival of her husband in a trenchant event at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on Wednesday night, covered by Consortium News.
Video by Cathy Vogan and Orlando Harrison for Consortium News.
DEATH OF jOURNALISM has been the result of the past 40 years & mostly because of GOVERNMENTS CENSORSHIPS !!
We need more people to be like Julian Assange—-a journalist in search of Truth—and not just in search of fame or a bigger paycheck.
If Julian is not freed—then I think freedom will surely be slipping away even faster than it seems to be now.
Sanction Schiff!
Sanction Biden!
Hey, according to Rep. Schiff, them’s the Rules of the Rules Based Order. We must take these actions now to ‘protect journalism’.
How much could we reduce America’s national debt if we ‘froze’ and then ‘seized’ what the Biden family has earned from decades of ‘public service’? Only the Shadow knows … with ‘the Shadow’ being a code word for the NSA.
The image of Mr. Robert Parry to the left says rather clearly that the ‘death of journalism’ is not a current event. It is something that occurred quite some time ago. It was at best on life-support in intensive care by the time Mr. Parry left AP in the early 1990’s. By the time of the purge of any who were critical of President Bush’s actions on 9-11 and the removal of any called him anything less than a hero from positions in the media, well, that was the formal announcement of the internment of journalism in its tomb.
It was during Reagan’s time that ‘the wall’ in media between the business side and the journalism side of the enterprise was demolished. That was the time when any real notion of ‘journalism’ or ‘journalistic ethics’ died. The money people were in firm control, and the journalists either did what they were told or got fired. When Clinton completed the process of mass corporate ownership of media outlets, allowing the creation of ‘Clear Channel’ and the essential fact that a small handful of corporations now control what everyone see, reads and hears, that was the time for the words of mourning towards the life of journalism.
It might just be time to stop talking about some mythical ‘journalism’ that has not been seen alive in these parts in decades. For decades, there has been this strange trend that if we only write ‘letters to the editor’ to complain, then journalism will correct itself and become what we fantasize it to be. Watch Ned Beatty’s famous speech from the movie “Network” if you want a dose of reality from half a century ago.
The American Congress is NOT a house of merit, neither is the ‘house’ of the British Monarchy!
The illegitimate ‘legal’ case brought against the journalist and publisher, Julian Assange, has no merit. Whereas, it is the required ‘conclusive proof’ at law.
After a torturously long deliberation process, the US is still not willing to concede it is at fault in bringing the suit in the first instance; to the detriment of humanity’s access to free speech; access to a universal law standard, which is the heroic life’s work of Julian Assange. He has made an unparalled, indelible contribution to open and truthful journalism.
After all is said and done, the freedom to critically think and speak one’s mind is the essence of democratic government.
Hasn’t it become apparent by now, in the US, that the merit of the law is not equivalent to the morality meant to uphold it. They do not go hand-in-glove; they are not synonymous terms!
Their association though, is with collusion; the deceiving of most of the people, some of the time!
And today we know, in this endeavor, they are failing dismally.
Releasing Julian Assange, for all the world to see, would prove, once and for all, that America is spineless, at least where it involves the merit behind government morality; which is solely the purported democratic essence of good governance.
”A person who may cause evil to others not only by his actions, but also by his inactions, is in either case justifiably accountable to them for the injury. The latter case, it is true, requires a much more cautious exercise of compulsion than is the former. To make anyone answerable for doing evil to others is the rule; to make answerable for those not preventing evil is, comparatively speaking, the rule.’
John Stuart Mill – On Liberty
No excuses I am afraid.
”’But looking the other way is really little more than a dereliction of duty by the masses of average men who are becoming everywhere the dominant power. In our age , the mere example of non-conformity, the refusal to bend the knee to custom, is in itself a social service.”
J.S.Mill – On Liberty
See also C Wright Mills in this connection.
How refreshing to hear plain speaking, unrestricted criticism and disclosure of the machinations involving governments, media and journalists. The depths to which they will sink in order to maintain their believed status is truly sickening. The hypocrisy too is blinding, as seen in this excerpt from a WH press release on the legislation introduced in 2010 and 2021:
hxxps://schiff.house.gov/news/press-releases/schiff-introduces-legislation-to-protect-journalists-from-human-rights-abuses
“This legislation, named in honor of the late Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, would build upon the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act to strengthen the United States’ commitment to hold to account those who would target journalists for violence and persecution,” said Rep. Schiff. “A free and independent media is essential for a free society, and the United States must stand with journalists around the world who risk their lives to expose corruption, express independent and critical voices, and tell the difficult stories that must be told.”
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE
Excellent example Valerie,
Adam Schiff and 99% of Congress are hypocrites extraordinaire – to Orwellian proportions.
They didn’t even slap the Saudis on the wrist for cutting up Kashoggi into pieces and putting his body parts in a plastic trash bag.
They protected Israel by making excuses for the murder US citizen journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in broad daylight.
They won’t do anything about the persecution of Julian Assange either.
In reality: Journalists need to be protected FROM the lawless authoritarian thugs in the US gov and their proxies
BRAVO! Well said!
Yes Jonny and in the video, Matt Kennard said he sometimes feels as if he is in that 1984 nightmare (or words to that effect). It truly is a dystopian, paranoid existence these gov agencies/people inhabit.