Assange Smeared Seth Rich to Cover Russia

It's not black and white as you present. Media has limited bandwidth, people have limited attention span, voters have limited things they can care about deeply, etc.

The absolute part doesn't change - bad actions are bad. But you can definitely divert attention from some things to others by feeding the right facts at the right time. So if you publish something with a specific intention/framing then it can definitely be held against you, irrelevant of the content itself.

Well therein lies the rub. Assange isn't a journalist or an American citizen. Neither applies. Seriously though, I don't think those rights are exclusive to either journalists or Americans. I personally believe those rights are inalienable rights that everyone deserves, among others. In fact, all others. We are all created equal and should be able to live as such, but any right comes with responsibility. I don't feel Assange is being responsible or transparent. He's past the point of being given the benefit of the collective doubt. I don't know what's going on, but honestly, no one involved in any of this seems innocent at this point.