[THS] WikiLeaks Has 'Insurance Files' On Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

Julian Assange: WikiLeaks Has 'Insurance Files' On Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.
 by Jack Mirkinson

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/assange-wikileaks-murdoch-
files_n_808086.html


WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange revealed that he has damaging "insurance files" on
Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp media empire that he will release if something
happens to him or to WikiLeaks.
Assange made the revelation in a conversation with journalist John Pilger that
appeared on the website of the New Statesman magazine on Wednesday.
"If something happens to me or to WikiLeaks, 'insurance' files will be released,"
Assange told Pilger. He said that the contents of the files "speak more of the same
truth to power...there are 504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organisation
and there are cables on Murdoch and News Corp."
Assange also said that any attempts by the U.S. government to prosecute him should
worry the American press.
"I think what's emerging in the mainstream media is the awareness that if I can be
indicted, other journalists can, too," he said.


Exclusive Interview: Julian Assange on Murdoch, Manning and the threat from China
The WikiLeaks founder talks to John Pilger.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/01/china-wikileaks-assange



WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Photo: Getty Images.
In this week's New Statesman, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange talks to John Pilger
about Bradley Manning, his "insurance" files on Rupert Murdoch and Newscorp - and
which country is the real enemy of WikiLeaks.
To read the entire feature, pick up a copy of this week's New Statesman available on
newsstands from tomorrow. Some highlights of the piece are below:
The "technological enemy" of WikiLeaks is not the US - but China, according to
Assange.
"China is the worst offender," when it comes to censorship, says the controversial
whistleblower. "China has aggressive and sophisticated interception technology that
places itself between every reader inside China and every information source outside
China. We've been fighting a running battle to make sure we can get information
through, and there are now all sorts of ways Chinese readers can get on to our site."
On Bradley Manning - the US soldier accused of leaking the diplomatic cables to
WikiLeaks - Assange says: "I'd never heard his name before it was published in the
press." He argues that the US is trying to use Manning - currently stuck in solitary
confinement in the US - to build a case against the WikiLeaks founder:
"Cracking Bradley Manning is the first step," says the Australian hacker. "The aim
clearly is to break him and force a confession that he somehow conspired with me to
harm the national security of the United States."
Such conspiracy would be impossible, according to Assange. "WikiLeaks technology
was designed from the very beginning to make sure that we never knew the
identities or names of people sub¬mitting material. We are as untraceable as we are
uncensorable. That's the only way to assure sources they are protected."
Yesterday, Assange's lawyers warned that if he is extradited to America, he could
face the death penalty - for embarrassing the leaders of the US government. "They
don't want the public to know these things and scapegoats must be found," says
Assange.
And despite the pressure the website has been under, reports of trouble at WikiLeaks
are greatly exaggerated, claims Assange.
"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."
More WikiLeaks coverage by the New Statesman:
http://www.newstatesman.com/subjects/wikileaks
- Getting the Assange issue wrong
- WikiLeaks whistle blows time on the old game
- Julian Assange arrest: why both sides are wrong
Tags: wikileaks Julian Assange John Pilger New Statesman