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WikiLeak's reminds Journalists to Fact Check


WikiLeaks has contacted journalists with a list of 140 ‘false and defamatory’ statements concerning Mr Julian Assange.
Recipients have been advised against using the statements in their reportage, as they have been deigned ‘false’ by the platform.
The statements have mainly been taken from previous articles regarding Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy for the past seven years.
WikiLeaks has said that they paint an inaccurate portrait of the Australian computer programmer, who was granted political asylum by Ecuador following his role in the publication of classified US military documents.

The reason for the message is unspecified; however WikiLeaks has singled out the Guardian newspaper, accusing them of publishing a string of false reports about Assange.
In September 2018, the Guardian published a report entit
led: ‘Russia’s secret plan to help Julian Assange escape from UK’.
It illustrates an alleged plot to smuggle Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy, via the provision of diplomatic documents handed to Assange.
The report, compiled by 3 well renowned Guardian journalists, claims that Russian diplomats had been involved in secret talks in London to see whether Assange could be assisted in fleeing the UK.
One of the people singled out in the article, Fidel Narvaez, has made an official complaint to the Guardian, claiming it misleads readers, defames his own name- and is based on a host of remarks from ‘unnamed sources’.
He has called for the report to be retracted from the site, and for a public apology. The Guardian has refused both requests.
Two months later, another report issued by the Guardian, states how ‘Paul Manafort held secret talks with Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy’.
First reported by the Guardian, the story was quickly picked up by a host of other news organisations, ricocheting round the media sphere at great speed. It went viral.
This is despite the fact that Manafort denies he has ‘ever met Assange, or been contacted by him, or anyone connected to Wikileaks, directly or indirectly.’
A number of other holes in the article remain. There is no mention of Manafort in the embassy logs, no photographic or video evidence, despite the Ecuadorian Embassy being one of the most monitored, surveyed and photographed buildings in the UK.
This has not gone unnoticed by critics.  
Journalist Glenn Greenwald notes how more than a month after the ‘viral, blockbuster Assange/ Manafort Scoop’ was released, no evidence has emerged to support the article.  
Greenwald is known for his role in detailing classified UK and US surveillance documents disclosed by Edward Snowden- in a series of reports that were published in the Guardian in 2013.
WikiLeaks has accused the Guardian of fabricating news, and has launched a legal fund to sue the Guardian for their reportage.
In the letter sent out to journalists, WikiLeaks reminds reporters of their responsibility to carefully fact check from primary sources- and to check the list to ensure they are not spreading ‘defamatory falsehoods about WikiLeaks or Assange’.


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