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Comment by mhoad | Hacker News Reader

I think this really kills the idea that Assange was ever a real journalist. Directing cyber attacks and theft of information is not journalism.

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Being a journalist is not an endorsement of character.

You can be a criminal and a journalist, a thief and a journalist, a horrible person and a journalist.

But how you obtain your information definitely does change whether or not you should be called a "journalist". If your information is obtained through blackmail, for instance, you are not a journalist you are an extortionist.

Even mainstream Vox [1], NBC [2], and NYT [3] reporters have recently contacted corporations and individuals threatening to name and shame them if they do not issue an apology, assist with a story, or add their weight to a deplatforming/demonetization campaign.

Do those acts of extortion render those individuals and their supporting editors not-journalists too? I don’t think so. Ethical lapses, deplorable though they may be, are perfectly compatible with still fulfilling the role of a profession.

[1] YouTube adpocalypse effort led by Carlos Maza

[2] NBC’s repetitive naming of Google Ads and brands alongside cherry picked comments on Zero Hedge and The Federalist to delist those competitors.

[3] NYT recent threat to doxx the Scott Alexander blog

>journalist: a person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast.

But then you can't use being a journalist as a shield for illegal behavior.

Being charged with something is a far cry from being found guilty of something!

This is a federal court finding that people that revealed the war crimes its government perpetrated "did so illegally". Meanwhile they of course don't file charges against the war criminals.

I feel you are talking about a more abstract concept here where of course there can be truth in it. I'm talking about a very specific set of actions that look absolutely nothing like journalism https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbWxt13XsAIaOTm?format=png&name=...

Again, these are allegations by the federal government and an informer for the FBI (presumably someone black mailed with the threat of unreasonably long prison sentence).

That does not make it untrue - but it's not like it's evidence weighed by a jury in a fair trial - it's very much one side of the story?

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