Implications of Julian Assange’s Plea Deal for Press Freedom

The plea deal reached by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with prosecutors is a significant blow to American press freedoms, though it could have been much worse, writes Charlie Savage in a news analysis.

Assange pleaded guilty today in a Saipan courtroom, part of a remote U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, to one charge of violating the Espionage Act for sharing state secrets on WikiLeaks. Following his plea, Assange is set to return to his home country, Australia, after spending five years in British custody.

This marks the first time in American history that gathering and publishing information deemed secret by the government has been successfully prosecuted as a crime, setting a chilling precedent for journalists. However, because Assange agreed to a deal, there is no risk of a definitive Supreme Court ruling that might support a restrictive interpretation of press freedoms.