Summary
Highlights
Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006, promising a secure platform for leaking classified documents. The site gained global attention in 2010 by publishing a video of a US helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed civilians, including two Reuters journalists. This was followed by the release of over 91,000 secret documents on the war in Afghanistan and then 250,000 communications from US diplomats, marking the largest leak in history at that time. The US government considered this sensitive information that should have remained classified. Since 2010, Assange has faced legal troubles, including sexual assault allegations in Sweden, seven years of asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, and espionage charges from the US. He recently agreed to a plea deal, pleading guilty to one of 18 charges under the US Espionage Act in exchange for his freedom.
Natália Viana, executive director of Pública, an investigative journalism agency, recounts her first contact with WikiLeaks in November 2010. While residing in the Amazon, she received a mysterious email and then a call from a woman named Sara, who hinted at an unprecedented journalistic scoop. Viana, already experienced in investigative journalism, was intrigued but skeptical due to the lack of details. She was told she would have access to more material than any journalist before and needed to be in London in two days. By then, WikiLeaks had already published significant documents, like those on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, revealing numerous civilian deaths and secret military operations. Viana reached out to a trusted journalist, Gavin MacFadyen, who confirmed the legitimacy and importance of the project, prompting her to travel to London despite the uncertainty.
Upon arriving in London, Natália Viana met Sara Harrison (who later became famous for helping Edward Snowden). Harrison informed Viana about the Swedish arrest warrant for Assange, adding to the intrigue. Viana was then led to an office where she met Julian Assange and his team. Assange approached her and, without speaking, showed her a note detailing '250,000 secret embassy documents,' emphasizing the importance of discretion. Viana quickly realized the stringent security protocols employed by WikiLeaks, which were far more advanced than typical journalistic practices at the time. These included using encryption for communications and secure document transfer methods. A notable example was being instructed to remove her phone battery after making a call to her mother, to prevent location tracking and maintain secrecy about their travel destination.
Natália Viana describes Julian Assange as a complex and polarizing figure—seen by some as a villain, by others as a hero. She emphasizes his deep obsession with WikiLeaks, viewing it as his life's work to enable mass leaks of information from organizations and governments engaging in wrongdoing. Assange, described as intense and difficult to work with, avoids small talk and focuses on geopolitics, military strategy, and information architecture. He is noted for being stubborn but also open to debate, occasionally changing his mind after prolonged discussions. Viana highlights his diagnosis with Asperger's syndrome, which contributes to his social demeanor and methodical approach. Despite his challenging personality, Assange consistently showed trust in Viana's journalistic judgment and strategy for disseminating documents in the Global South, a commitment he maintained against the global North's conventional journalistic practices.
Viana recounts the prolonged legal challenges Assange faced. Initially free, he was soon entangled in a sexual assault investigation in Sweden in late 2010. Assange denied the allegations, claiming the encounters were consensual, and feared extradition to Sweden would lead to his transfer to the US. He was arrested shortly after the leaks, released on electronic tag and house arrest. The legal battle centered on his extradition to Sweden, which Assange and WikiLeaks believed was a political maneuver to send him to the US. In 2012, after losing his final appeal, Assange sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he remained for seven years. Ecuador granted him asylum based on human rights and press freedom concerns. The Swedish case was eventually dropped in 2019 due to the statute of limitations, but Ecuador withdrew his asylum, leading to his arrest by British police and subsequent imprisonment. Immediately, the US unveiled its criminal charges under the 1917 Espionage Act, accusing him of a crime of espionage related to his journalistic work, a novel legal approach against a publisher.
The political landscape shifted, leading to a recent plea deal. Despite earlier judicial rulings for extradition, strong diplomatic pressure, particularly from the Australian government, led to negotiations. Assange faced 18 charges, 17 of which related to different batches of documents published by WikiLeaks, concerning conspiracy, obtaining, retaining, transmitting, and publishing secret American documents. The agreement involved him pleading guilty to one charge, receiving a five-year sentence, which he is considered to have already served during his incarceration in the UK. While the US claims the agreement was an independent decision by the Justice Department, organizations like Reporters Without Borders argue Assange should not have spent a single day in prison. Natália Viana expresses concern that this plea deal sets a dangerous precedent, criminalizing essential investigative journalism practices like working with secret documents. She highlights that this is the first time the US Espionage Act has been used against a publisher, potentially broadening US jurisdiction to prosecute non-American journalists for their work, a development she sees as a setback for press freedom.
Natália Viana's book, 'O Vazamento' (The Leak), details her experiences and the profound impact of WikiLeaks on journalism. She emphasizes that WikiLeaks revolutionized investigative journalism by standardizing work with mass leaked information and secret archives. They taught journalists about encryption and secure methods of handling sensitive data. Moreover, WikiLeaks fostered a new model of journalistic collaboration, bringing together major news outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, and Le Monde, which traditionally did not work in such coalitions. This collaborative approach, now prevalent in investigative journalism, exemplified by initiatives like Brazilian media outlets collaborating on COVID-19 data, has become a dominant and effective strategy for disseminating public interest information. Viana concludes by acknowledging Assange's significant, albeit controversial, contribution to journalism.