“Publishing is Not a Crime.”

12-years after Julian Assange unleashed a trove of leaked diplomatic cables, top international media outlets are rallying to his defense.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

In “An Open Letter from Editors and Publishers: Publishing is Not a Crime,” the mandarins of the international press corp came to the defense of Julian Assange this week.

“Twelve years ago, on November 28th 2010, our five international media outlets — The New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais and DER SPIEGEL — published a series of revelations in cooperation with Wikileaks that made the headlines around the globe,” the letter began, modestly. “‘Cable gate’, a set of 251,000 confidential cables from the US State Department disclosed corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale.”

Assange, who is still facing extradition after over a decade of running from U.S. authorities desperate to prosecute the intrepid publisher for exposing sensitive data, may, at last, be reaching the end of his legal tether.

“For Julian Assange, publisher of Wikileaks, the publication of ‘Cable gate’ and several other related leaks had the most severe consequences,” acknowledged the editors and publishers of The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, DER SPIEGEL, and El Pais in the open letter.