Julian Assange Suing The Guardian for Libel in Fake News Story

in #freeassange5 years ago (edited)

Mainstream news site The Guardian has published a false story claiming Julian Assange had secret meetings with Paul Manafort. WikiLeaks has since launched a GoFundMe project to help with the legal funds necessary "to sue The Guardian for libel over fabricated Manafort story":

BREAKING: @WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has instructed his lawyers to sue the Guardian for libel over fabricated Manafort story and launched a legal fund to boost the action


Source

The WikiLeaks account on Twitter is livid with the fabricated story from a known fraud. They even put $1 million on the table as a bet to say this whole story is utter bullshit. Everyone should remember this as the day The Guardian destroyed it's reputation and lost credibility as a news organization:

Remember this day when the Guardian permitted a serial fabricator to totally destroy the paper's reputation. @WikiLeaks is willing to bet the Guardian a million dollars and its editor's head that Manafort never met Assange.


Source

The story is patently false, but only The Guardian is foolish enough to publish such a crock of shit written by Luke Harding. Paul Manafort himself issued a statement in which he unequivocally denies meeing Assange:

"This story is totally false and deliberately libelous. I have never met Julian Assange or anyone connected to him. I have never been contacted by anyone connected to Wikileaks, either directly or indirectly."

"I have never reached out to Assange or Wikileaks on any matter. We are considering all legal options against the Guardian who proceeded with this story even after being notified by my representatives that it was false."

What kind of editors allow this to go through? WikiLeaks even asks if The Guardian's editor, @KathViner, will resign over this joke of a story. The guardian sure seems to be aware of it's blunder, as the site newssniffer.co.uk is showing edits to the original article to try to reduce the blowback:


Source


Source

This whole fiasco from The Guardian may be a deliberate attempt by the so-called "journalist" Luke Harding to get back at Julian Assange for writing a scathing book review of Harding's The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man in 2015:

The Guardian "journalist", Luke Harding, behind the fake Manafort story also claimed the NSA was secretly deleting his words, won "Pliagiarist of the Year" and was savaged by Julian Assange in this book review: https://t.co/DDnkSoczut


Source

Assange called Harding a "hack job" and mentioned how "he was awarded 'plagiarist of the year' by Private Eye in 2007."

If this meeting did happen, then there is video proof of it from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. But there won't be proof, because it never happened. They even have the Embassy's visitors logs for May, but there is no mentions of Manfort visting. As if the government of Ecuador would let a ring-wring politician to visit Assange 3 times without logging him in. The Guardian only has "anonymous" sources to make it's claims.

As such, the mainstream media has run wild with the fake news story, as they are the kings of fake news. They are desperate to appeal to a narrative of republican support for Assange to cause a greater partisan divide. The media is well off at it's usual job of spreading misinformation, and likely disinformation of knowing the story is false, just to reap the rewards from hyping this nonsense.

Note that WikiLeaks has never printed a retraction, ever. Compare that to the mainstream media outlets who have many times. No one has sued WikiLeaks for libel or false claims, because nothing is made up. It all comes from leaks, not fabricated "journalism" like the mainstream media often likes to sensationalize, as is the case right now.


Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.


If you appreciate and value the content, please consider: Upvoting, Sharing or Reblogging below.
Follow me for more content to come!


My goal is to share knowledge, truth and moral understanding in order to help change the world for the better. If you appreciate and value what I do, please consider supporting me as a Steem Witness by voting for me at the bottom of the Witness page.

Sort:  

I've been following this very closely and this latest stunt by the Guardian newspaper is disgusting. It's a blatant smear job and attempt to tie Assange to the Russia-gate madness. Ecuador is under immense pressure to deliver Assange to the US by making his living conditions unbearable - this has to stop! Human Rights matter, freedom of expression matters!
If Assange is extradited to the US, what's to stop Chinese and Russian officials from doing the same when a publisher reports on unflattering aspects of their governments?? Or any other publishers - INCLUDING - the Guardian for doing the same. Classified information is leaked to the press ALL THE TIME - this is a very dangerous situation for everyone, not just Assange. They're trying everything they can to force him to leave on his own accord because the political fallout of kicking him out is too costly.

Yes, it's a lame brain hack job, as Assange accurately characterized Harding in 2015. The case has large ramifications indeed. I also posted earlier today on the delayed court ruling of the suit filed against the government to unseal the charges, as the judge will allow more information to be presented. I closed by mentioning how important this case is for the future of leaks, leakers and whistleblowers (and those who get their info out), shedding light on the dirty darkness of our world:

The case of criminally charging Assange for leaking government documents is of great importance. Whistleblowers and leaks shows us the dark side of our society many wouldn't know about otherwise. If leaks become criminalize through a precedent set in a criminal case against Assange, it would lead to greater silencing of people trying to shed light on the ugly darkness. What kind of free society would be left going forward from there?

If Ecuador won't boot him out due to the fallout, then I think he can manage to tough it out, despite the harsh protocols being applied. If he wants to stay out of jail and a show-trial to be made an example of, he will have to comply.

Everyone should remember this as the day The Guardian destroyed it's reputation and lost credibility as a news organization:

I know people within the organization - it's been marxist in drag, since at least 2000 - they rest is just smoke and mirrors for 'intellectual influence.'
(I know this information first hand)

I see. It wasn't a liberal rag prior to the 2000s? Hehe.

lolol - I can only confirm from that date onwards, personally..

thanks for covering!
what I find interesting related to the Guardian: Project syndicate https://www.theguardian.com/business/series/project-syndicate-economists
https://www.project-syndicate.org/about
and the people writing for them, it's like
phew.

Interesting global propaganda reach .

Curated for #informationwar (by @openparadigm)

  • Our purpose is to encourage posts discussing Information War, Propaganda, Disinformation and other false narratives. We currently have over 7,500 Steem Power and 20+ people following the curation trail to support our mission.

  • Join our discord and chat with 250+ fellow Informationwar Activists.

  • Join our brand new reddit! and start sharing your Steemit posts directly to The_IW, via the share button on your Steemit post!!!

  • Connect with fellow Informationwar writers in our Roll Call! InformationWar - Leadership/Contributing Writers/Supporters: Roll Call

Ways you can help the @informationwar

  • Upvote this comment.
  • Delegate Steem Power. 25 SP 50 SP 100 SP
  • Join the curation trail here.
  • Tutorials on all ways to support us and useful resources here

Curated for #informationwar (by @commonlaw)

  • Our purpose is to encourage posts discussing Information War, Propaganda, Disinformation and other false narratives. We currently have over 8,000 Steem Power and 20+ people following the curation trail to support our mission.

  • Join our discord and chat with 200+ fellow Informationwar Activists.

  • Join our brand new reddit! and start sharing your Steemit posts directly to The_IW!

  • Connect with fellow Informationwar writers in our Roll Call! InformationWar - Contributing Writers/Supporters: Roll Call Pt 11

Ways you can help the @informationwar

  • Upvote this comment.
  • Delegate Steem Power. 25 SP 50 SP 100 SP
  • Join the curation trail here.
  • Tutorials on all ways to support us and useful resources here

Hi @krnel!

Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 7.268 which ranks you at #65 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 1 places in the last three days (old rank 66).

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 240 contributions, your post is ranked at #8.

Evaluation of your UA score:
  • Your follower network is great!
  • The readers appreciate your great work!
  • Good user engagement!

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.28
TRX 0.13
JST 0.032
BTC 60385.11
ETH 2889.75
USDT 1.00
SBD 3.65