Again, not to minimize these other journalists, but a journalist being prosecuted in Iran, Belarus, the UAE, etc. is very different from one being persecuted in a western nation with rule of law and free speech.
The olympic bronze medal winners are still incredibly talented people, even if they didn't win gold.
I think what's happened is that journalists used to protect journalists --now they lean a bit towards protecting "like-mindedness" rather then being principled. When Julian was helping release incriminating evidence of US wrongdoing he was a hero, when he released evidence against someone they agreed with then he became persona non-grata and somewhat a pariah in some circles.
And yes, that the US and UK are doing this is perverted. We're not supped to be like China ,Russia or Iran.
From the article: In an interview with the UK TV station, Channel 4, Assange once said: “Other journalists try to verify sources. We don't do that, we verify documents. We don't care where it came from."
Just sharing information does not make one a journalist, Trump is not a journalist for sharing classified info, and I think it's disingenuous to pretend that Assange is wanted for violations against free speech or something.