Is Julian Assange a Journalist?

• Author: Cunningham, Tom
• Position: Letters - Letter to the editor

The reasoning in Jacob Sullum's "Is Julian Assange a Journalist?" (April) turned out to be largely circular. True, the Espionage Act has rarely been applied to journalists. But the reason for that is that it is sometimes difficult to prove that a private citizen knew that release was unauthorized. This material was known to Assange to be classified, and known to be stolen. It is also true that it has been the custom to not charge journalists even if it could be proven that the journalist knew it was classified. But this is just a custom.

Sullum states that private citizens have every right a journalist has. But this implies the...