Traditional journalists may abandon WikiLeaks’ Assange at their own peril

And his arrest Thursday in London once again ignited the seemingly endless debate:
Is the WikiLeaks founder, who until Thursday had been holed up in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for years, essentially a publisher — though a notably strange one — who believes in taking radical steps to expose government secrets, and who thus should be afforded the same First Amendment protections given to news organizations? In fact, WikiLeaks and Assange — and certainly Edward Snowden’s 2013 leak of vast amounts of government information, bringing widespread government surveillance to light — have helped to usher in a new era for journalists. Yes, Assange crossed a line if he indeed conspired with his source to break a secure government password.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com