Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has slammed the Leveson Inquiry for being a threat to investigative journalism, reports Katie Stanton.
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange tells Katie Stanton the Leveson Inquiry is a threat to investigative journalism
At a question and answer session last night, said to be his last public appearance before finding out whether he will be extradited to Sweden next week, Julian Assange became quite passionate about the failings of the UK press.
He told Left Foot Forward:
“The UK press’s biggest problem is the reporting of lies… [but] the Leveson Inquiry will crack down on investigative journalism, further preventing the publication of truth.
“The problem is, any journalist with influence gets sucked in by politicians and becomes a political actor. Leveson needs to drop the idea that it’s all about News International.
“Local media is clubbing together to beat the hell out of News International but it’s not just Murdoch, it’s everyone.”
Assange was speaking following the first UK screening of Shadows of Liberty, a documentary he features in about “today’s disintegrating freedoms within the US media” due to connections between big corporations and news outlets.
Assange showed up to the Q&A wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, symbolically worn by members of the Anonymous movement, to show “solidarity” with supporters of WikiLeaks and the Anonymous movement.
• MPs attack Murdochs in damning report into phone-hacking 1 May 2012
• Guess which front page fails to lead on Leveson? 25 Apr 2012
• Wikileaks saga comes to town as Assange tastes fresh air 17 Dec 2010
The Leveson Inquiry, which has been on-going since November 2011, is currently hearing from a range of celebrities, politicians, sportsmen and public figures in connection with the phone hacking scandal uncovered in 2011. The cost of the inquiry has now reached more than £2 million with monthly costs of around £350,000.
At the Q&A, Assange went on to attack the coalition’s plans to store every email, webpage visit and phone call made in the UK:
“The phone hacking scandal is an insignificant matter compared to what is being proposed by the Queen and David Cameron to intercept online communication. We have all become victims of constant phone hacking scandals by the government.”
Assange will find out on Wednesday whether the Supreme Court has decided to block his extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex crime allegations.
WikiLeaks, the online portal that controversially published classified documents supplied by whistleblowers and anonymous sources and was once receiving up to £120,000 in donations per day, has suffered financial difficulty within the last year due to a number of payment processors, like PayPal, refusing to be used as a method of donation for the website.
20 Responses to “Assange: Leveson Inquiry will “crack down” on investigative journalism”
Mr. Sensible
Well it might clamp down on his type of so called investigative reporting, but that’s a bad thing because? I read the Guardian and, to put it bluntly, the Guardian’s working with Wiki Leaks was not its finest hour, in my opinion. The likes of Panorama are subject to Ofcom, and they manage alright don’t they…
I think it is very important that Levison is happening. Lets remember what lead to it starting; the hacking of a young girl’s phone, and her family’s loss being exploited by the press for its own ends. And that, as we have seen, was only the tip of the iceburg.
Selohesra, Levison’s job isn’t just to find out what happened; it is also to suggest how things should work in the future to stop this happening again.
I would like to hope that this process will result in a better relationship between the media, politics and the public, and a better democracy and a better Britain accordingly.
BevR
RT @leftfootfwd: Assange: Leveson Inquiry will “crack down” on investigative journalism http://t.co/C0rC3tih
Knut Cayce
"The UK press’s biggest problem is the reporting of lies… [but] the Leveson Inquiry will crack down on… http://t.co/wkmfKreD
cameronsfollys
[He's right! Leveson'll recommend..!] Assange: Leveson Inquiry will “crack down” on investigative journalism http://t.co/jUnL086J
Noxi
RT @leftfootfwd: Assange: #Leveson will “crack down” on investigative journalism: http://t.co/4Sk6PGS0 – @KatieDagger reports