Torturing Assange
An Interview with Andrew Fowler
Hawkins, John Kendall
http://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/20/torturing-assange-an-interview-with-andrew-fowler/
Date Written: 2020-08-20
Publisher: Counterpunch
Year Published: 2020
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX24833
Andrew Fowler, Australian award-winning investigative journalist and author of 'The Most Dangerous Man in the World: Julian Assange and WikiLeaks' Fight for Freedom,' accounts the rise and political imprisonment of Assange. According to Fowler, Assange seemingly inevitably moved toward an adversarial positioning against American imperialism abroad. He was a tonic for the indifference expressed by so many ordinary Americans in the traumatic aftermath of 9/11 and the rise of the surveillance state.
Abstract:
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Extract:
If Assange goes down, do you see a future for journalism in the world, given America's so-called leadership in this area, by way of the holy first amendment, but with dwindling global newspapers. The Guardian, WaPo and the NYT remain the only papers of record available in every international terminal in the world and sales falling for them, the fight over what's real news and what isn't underway (a proxy war to control the narrative), how do you see the fight for journalism ahead?
If Assange goes down, it will be the third domino. First, the rising power of executive government; second, the destruction of the, at times, countervailing power of the mainstream media, including public broadcasters who draw their political power from their audiences (and thus to a certain extent are independent). The internet has savaged media budgets which has weakened the overall media environment and empowered governments to attack and cut public broadcasters. Assange who used the internet as a weapon for journalism provided a way to re-energise old media structures, engage readers and challenge executive government authority. He provided a way to democratise journalism. It is the reason he is such a threat to the hegemony of the US led five eyes nations, who until recently in a uni-polar political and strategic world, have ruled supreme.
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