For weeks now, we here in Minnesota and the broader United States
have been exposed to the corporate media and it’s take on WikiLeaks
and founder Julian Assange.
Their position could have been taken from the Pentagon playbook. It
very well may have. From MPR to Fox News, CNN, NBC, Minneapolis Star
Tribune it has been the basic same narrative. Julian Assange may
have “harmed US credibility and risked American lives.” To one degree
or another, Julian Assange is the villain.
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Not the US government, military, diplomats or other officials.
What makes this most ironic is that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks has been
doing that which the local and corporate media have not. Real investigative
journalism.
Rather than expose the guilty, the media in this country have chosen an
attempt to attack and smear the whistle-blower.
What makes this most appalling is that one of the “wikileaks” shows a
horrific video of an American Apache helicopter, shooting and killing
among others two Reuters Journalists in Iraq. Reuters photographer Namir
Noor-Eldeen and his assistant Saaeed Chmagh were both shot to death in
Baghdad 2007. Then the video showed a van which was trying to help the
wounded. The helicopter then opens up on them. There were two children
in the van. They were injured and their father was killed. None of the
14 civilians killed were posing any threat to US troops.
Reuters had tried for years to obtain this information but it took
WikiLeaks for them to get it. Yet of course at the time, the corporate
media dutifully reported the Pentagon version of the event. They could
not even protect or stand up for their own.
Julian Assange has even written an article, published in the Australian
Newspaper, titled “Don’t Shoot The Messenger.”
From the article
“Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that
media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some
hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about
corporate corruption.”
Given the corporate media’s attacks on Assange, this is a most damning
indictment.
Julian Assange and Wikileaks have done their job.
How about we start to demand that MPR, Star Tribune, WCCO, KSTP and the rest do theirs.
Be a friend to an open, democratic Republic. Inform us. Give us facts and information.
Stop shooting the messenger.
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