it's online and in print went to the core of what constitutes journalism a sound just supporters denounced his arrest as well as the prospect of his extradition to the united states as an assault on freedom of information a potential threat for journalists around the world who expose secrets others maintain that wiki leaks traffics in raw data not news stories that is sanjay does not deserve the legal protection real journalists get in this legal case the devil is in the details of the indictment the fact that the u.s. department of justice chose not to charge a sanch under the espionage act as so many had predicted but under another statute the computer fraud and abuse act look beyond the law however and you'll find that there is no escaping the politics of this story and the mainstream media's own role in it our starting point this week is london.

giuliana songes a long standoff with international authorities is finally over he looks like. he has aged more than seven years this is a story about wiki leaks journalism and the long arm of american just reaching all the way into the u.k. and ecuador. the issues are complex and the mainstream media coverage leaned heavily on official talking points . why did you revoke the asylum julian assange what did he do by the. you know to call the. police having kicked julian assange out of its embassy and revoked his asylum in the ecuadorian government played on the media's appetite for the messy details the dirty laundry. in his underwear secret meetings and scuffles with security guards

you have to understand the ecuadorian government which cost the computer that could shut them a suit for many years eventually throwing away from him thing needed to be a good explanation as to why he did it and that's part of that explanation they started spinning the media narrative by essentially linking to the media this tiny detail some bets off a sundress personal life. and many other factors i can't really blame the media for repeatedly using the film clip of us i was being dragged out of the embassy with this big gray beard looking like a very miserable failed prophet or something and i can't blame them for you know reading about how he treated his cats that's the way the media operates with does bother me is that they allowed the impression to. spread was indicted for hacking he was indicted for helping chelsea manning in general and specifically for

allegedly offering to possibly crack a password that's not. whether what julian assange did can be described as hacking or not depends on who is doing the describing the headline in the department of justice his press release made its position clear according to a sanchez lawyer though what her client did was to try to protect his source. but the indictment specifies does it not that was communications between a savage and chelsea manning in which a stand is alleged to have helped manning get the information out of the defense department computer system if that's true how problematic would that be for a centrist is the point i think is important about the charges is that while the accusation is about compute conspiracy to commit computer crime so in india a headline hacking if you look at the factual allegations what it amounts to is

a discussion about how chelsea manning could protect her identity while accessing material she already had access to. material manning had already provided wiki but a savage was looking for more telling his source curious eyes never run dry. what happened next is central to this case manning had security concerns fearing that if she went in for more she would be traced the sand suggested a different route into the system by cracking another password thereby covering managed traps his lawyers say he was simply protecting his source others don't see it that way. journalists will often tell sources to you know hide their you know identity by using signal to communicate by using tor to access various things into the internet browser but what. journalists are not trained to do what they don't do is they don't help crack passwords this is where assigned cross the line that all

other journalists wouldn't do they wouldn't try to crack the password. for those following the wiki leaks story there was an assumption that any case against a savage would fall under the espionage act which criminalizes the acquisition and publication of classified documents by that standard all the other media outlets that published the leaked material could face the same legal consequences as a sense but by basing its case on the hacking allegations rather than the dissemination of the documents and by filing the charges under a different law the prosecution can argue the charges against essential carry no implications for other news outlets. seems to me that what they're doing by using the act in question is the computer fraud and abuse act. is that the d.o.j. is trying to distinguish sounds from other mainstream media journalists and organizations such as the new york times and the washington post who publish the

information ascension and wiki leaks wiki leaks furnish them with is that how you see this that is absolutely what the d.o.j. is attempting to do which is to distinguish between what julia songe is alleged to have done in terms of his communication which elsie manning and his publishing activities which cannot be distinguished in any way shape or form from what the new york times the guardian to. all of these media organizations did but if you look at again if you look at the factual allegations of what they actually accused him of. those acts are the same acts that journalists engage in all the time. julian assange just time in the public eye has been tumultuous back in two thousand and ten when wiki leaks made its trove of classified documents publish it came under attack in washington primarily from the american right well and to prosecute anybody that led to undermining the war effort and would that include going after wiki leaks. yes since then opposition to wiki leaks has grown to include voices on

the left julian assange lost many of them over material wiki leaks made public prior to the two thousand and sixteen election revealing e-mails from inside the hillary clinton team that damaged her campaign to the apparent benefit of donald trump by the following year ecuador was under new leadership. the president who granted a sand asylum was replaced by lenin moreno a more conservative figure who wanted better relations with washington there was also the shadow of the sexual assault allegations from a sanchez time in sweden a decade ago that case is what led him into the ecuadorian embassy in the first place and while the investigation was dropped two years ago it remains a key. argument for those who want to send out and into court however none of that is material to the d.-o. g.'s legal case it was always built around the manning leaks and the question of

whether what julian assange did was an illegal form of political activism or in fact journalism that served the public interest the accusations that he is not a journalist because he does not serve the public interest i find them quite ridiculous it's just impossible for a journalist create a co or the mainstream consensus feel to qantas journalists on that the finish and having journalists with access to or additional documents which down allow us to see how lot of the narrative. i think of columns important journalistic practice i have complete personal discussed for joining i would never be a fan of his but if they had charged him under the espionage act for the mere receipt and publication of materials and nothing else i would have had to stand stuck behind him if only because i don't want the government ever being the one to decide you are

a journalist who's entitle to first one protection or not i'm less interested in the debate about who is a journalist and who isn't than i am in the question of was this an act of journalism that's constitutionally protected and there's no question in my mind that the song was think it a very valuable act to look at this is a bit strange some of it is is arguably bad journalism but what he's being indicted for was an act of journalism those stories. were discussing other media stories that are on our radar this week with one of our producers johannah host joe there's a tasty little julian assange and wiki leaks angle in the release of the unredacted version of the mother report into the trumpet ministration and allegations of russian collusion in the two thousand. us elections we get to a senator in a minute but first walk us through the way the u.s. media have been covering this story well three weeks ago when trump's hand-picked

attorney general william barr first released his four page summary of the four hundred forty eight page imports the president insisted that he was pretty much cleared of any wrongdoing so it looks like the media had some reckoning to do after a few years of relentlessly pushing the collusion story but as it turns out our summary was selective at best but misleading at worst the report is actually far more damaging to trump than barr initially let the public to believe especially when it comes to the issue of obstruction of justice which mother said trump tried repeatedly and it's worth remembering that back in one thousand nine hundred seventy four during that watergate investigation obstruction of justice actually enough to lead to president richard nixon's resignation so the us media are understandably all over this story ok now walk us through the julian assange role in this well miller's report accuses the wiki leaks founder of lying about the sources of those thousands of democratic national committee emails that his side

published in two thousand and sixteen the report provides some pretty compelling evidence that a son in trying to hide the identity of the russian sources who gave him. d.n.c. e-mails openly implied his source was seth rich a d.n.c. staffer was murdered in washington in two thousand and sixteen now the miller report also provides evidence a songe was in touch with his contacts in russia even after rich's death so he definitely has some explaining to do ok thanks joe. we're turning to poland now and the story of a catholic priest and his radio station that lie at the heart of the country's politics for nearly thirty years today has been preaching and broadcasting from the pulpit his station does not attract particularly large audiences and the content can be inflammatory however politically and ideal but he punches far above its weight anyone running for office in poland knows that the current populist government included today is such a divisive figure his many media empire is so polarizing that one journalist has

written a stage play about this story it opened a few weeks back and much like read sick and self it's getting mixed reviews the listening posts flow phillips now from poland on the tangled web of politics power the priesthood and the press. in. december twenty fifth the twenty fourth anniversary of rodeo maria best. job you know it to do it does a year bill but does that justify. december twenty sixth the twenty fifth anniversary of reading. the upside for them to try to show you president. jerry project over. december twenty eighth the twenty seventh anniversary of robby and restore the

moments just sort of cisco's of the. service ship by sources that was assured them that. the prime minister the president is the leader of the ruling party. paying their respects to one. tank with. but a lot of it is degrading that leaders the prime minister ministers of the polish government drive like crazy to the other side of poland all because it's what father it's a question. there they are all holding hands dancing and singing celebrating roger marias i'm very sorry it's unacceptable in the twenty first century that one individual a monk can hold such power it's incredible. it's hard to overemphasize the role today issued to place in polish society according to

a recent survey just seven percent of poles do not recognise his name and that's in large part thanks to the media conglomerate he created what started as a single radio station in the small mediæval town of torrent a three hour drive from the capital warsaw has since grown into an empire ready or maria was followed on to the airwaves by t.v. trump a daily newspaper nash genya a media college a mobile network as well as a publishing outfit in part set up through his foundations in part through his religious order the order of redemptorist. when the station made its first broadcast in one thousand nine hundred one it found fertile ground coming just two years after the fall of the anti clerical communist regime for some the catholic church served as a rallying point for others it was their saving grace. for the case to go for many

people father read officer haven and creates a community if you've interviewed them misha still trying to guess what is what it was among his listeners are a lot of elderly people looking to find their living in the modern world sometimes the speed of today's world terrifies them. i just feel as if they oppressed father would say give simple answers to all their questions hallelujah. and let's move on. or give them a sense of security. on the. problem was the main reason why he's so well known and so relevant is because he provokes a very contradictory emotions his fear logical program which is also political creates a sort of sect in the polish church. i if i'm already your mother your listener i know straight away what my views are from i will vote for who my enemy

is. there is a myth around father riddick's wealth that has been propagated for many years even by public t.v. supposedly drives a luxurious car apparently he was buying a helicopter that all of this gossip conjures up an image of a media mogul behaving in luxury in reality yes father riddick is a media moguls because he owns a multimedia operation but he is in fact a poor man he lives in a cell in your. behind me is the heartland a father of six media empire the sign he reads which means well turns out if you're a journalist not so much we tried to talk to father and so all of our requests were rejected according to a spokesman when sick when he speaks to media other than his own outlets and due to years of bad experiences with the media neither he nor anyone associated with this organization was made available as ridiculous self has said if you want to learn

about us follow our media we don't need to speak to others it. became evident when our producer tried to talk to parishioners leaving grit exactly church if you think . this sort of hostility can also be seen and heard in retakes media. is to my own i'll start to choose a whole new obesity. you know we started of the father with six contempt towards the european union is well known and i remember his statement in december two thousand and eighteen that the european union is actually the soviet union and he regularly makes comparisons between the two in that same month he also said the european union is like a gas chamber it is a commodities of up. there is a huge show on both radio maria and t.v. called unfinished conversations the guests on the show are openly and semitic

homophobic xenophobic. now the priest on the show recently he said the satan possesses homosexuals and fights against us meaning that homosexuals are on satan side if someone isn't safe inside it's natural to ask what is their right to lutheran. father riddick and the priests in his order to come across as having a disrespectful attitude when it comes to gay culture but it's actually the listeners that are outraged you get listeners calling in incensed by this so-called homo culture and it's often the fathers that event trying to tone down the statements. some of the output has sparked so much control see the journalist martin college has written a play about ready america and the potentially dangerous impact it could be having on some of the station's most avid listeners as well as on polish society and

culture more generally its title. is a play on words of a traditional polish christmas carol god is ball has become enemy and sport. rather maria's most important symbol for building an identity you searching for an enemy that can be blamed for all misfortune. for the roots it is not. roger maria's leader he's the face of the operation today might even describe him as a trademark has become so powerful that no one in the roman catholic church can reprimand him no one can say hey stop this is not avenge elizabeth he's too.