Julian Assange has “insurance” files on Rupert Murdoch

Read Time:1 Minute, 59 Second

In an interview with “New Statesman”, WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange talked to John Pilger about the “insurance” files he has on Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and myriad of other media too numerous to mention.

“There is no ‘fall’. We have never published as much as we are now. WikiLeaks is now mirrored on more than 2,000 websites. I can’t keep track of the spin-off sites – those who are doing their own WikiLeaks… If something happens to me or to WikiLeaks, ‘insurance’ files will be released.”

The contents of these files are unknown, but, according to Assange, “[t]hey speak more of the same truth to power.” It is not just government that should be worried about the content of these files, however. “There are 504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organisation and there are cables on Murdoch and News Corp,” says Assange.

The attempts by the US to indict Assange should worrying the mainstream press, he adds.

“I think what’s emerging in the mainstream media is the awareness that if I can be indicted, other journalists can, too,” says Assange. “Even the New York Times is worried. This used not to be the case. If a whistleblower was prosecuted, publishers and reporters were protected by the First Amendment, which journalists took for granted. That’s being lost.”

This could smack of paranoia to the innocent bystander, but after following this saga for a while now I’m sure there are people who would be happy if WikiLeaks went on a permanent vacation.

American politicians – from Joe Biden to Sarah Palin to Mike Huckabee, who he called “another idiot trying to make a name for himself” – who have either dubbed him a “terrorist” or called for his assassination or execution. He said anyone who had done the latter should be prosecuted for incitement to murder.

Fox News’ Bob Beckel, who called for Assange to be “illegally” killed by American special forces earlier this month.

“Just a few days ago on Fox, that was the phrase that was used: ‘illegal,’ he should be illegally murdered,” Assange said.”What sort of message does that send about the rule of law in the United States? That is conducting violence to achieve a political end…or the threat of violence to achieve a political end…and that is the definition of terrorism.”