{"id":348012,"date":"2021-10-14T00:53:10","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T00:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/?p=10613"},"modified":"2021-10-14T00:53:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T00:53:10","slug":"netflix-to-launch-wikileaks-smear-job-three-days-before-assange-court-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/10\/14\/netflix-to-launch-wikileaks-smear-job-three-days-before-assange-court-date\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix To Launch WikiLeaks Smear Job Three Days Before Assange Court\u00a0Date"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a\nhref=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/going_rogue\/netflix-to-launch-wikileaks-smear-job-three-days-before-assange-court-date\">Listen to a reading of this article:<\/a><\/em><\/p><p><iframe\nwidth=\"1060\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1141401628&%23038;show_artwork=true&%23038;maxheight=1000&%23038;maxwidth=1060\"><\/iframe><\/p><p\nstyle=\"text-align: center;\">\u2756<\/p><p>Netflix will begin streaming a brazen hatchet job on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks for its American subscribers on October 24th, just three days prior to a <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DefendAssange\/status\/1425466390245527558?s=20\">significant court date<\/a> in Assange&#8217;s fight against extradition from the UK to the United States on October 27th.<\/p><p>&#8220;You can stream We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks on Netflix starting\u00a0Sunday, October 24, 2021, at 12 AM PT \/ 3 AM ET,&#8221; Netflix Schedule <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.netflixschedule.com\/october-2021\/we-steal-secrets-the-story-of-wikileaks-netflix-release-date\/\">reports<\/a>.<\/p><p>We Steal Secrets was a &#8220;documentary&#8221; that is now so outdated beyond its 2013 release that one of its central characters, Chelsea Manning, is referred to by a dead name throughout its entirety. Why choose this specific moment to release it?<\/p><p>Well it doesn&#8217;t make much sense at all, if the timing wasn&#8217;t deliberately geared toward damaging Assange&#8217;s reputation in the nation whose government is trying to extradite him for exposing its war crimes. Assange&#8217;s October court date was set <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/us-uk-appeal-decision-julian-assange-wikileaks-extradition\/\">way back in August<\/a> and Netflix didn&#8217;t announce it had scheduled to begin streaming this film until <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NetflixFilm\/status\/1443720732937269251\">two weeks ago<\/a>.<\/p><blockquote\nclass=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\"><p\nlang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Three days before a crucial court hearing \u2013 as Julian Assange fights against extradition to a US super-max prison \u2013 Netflix is showing Alex Gibney&#39;s execrable propaganda film We Steal Secrets. I wrote a post detailing its smears at the time of its release <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lJJUoerJDq\">https:\/\/t.co\/lJJUoerJDq<\/a> <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BMpNrg2h4i\">https:\/\/t.co\/BMpNrg2h4i<\/a><\/p><p>&mdash; Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jonathan_K_Cook\/status\/1448427298043092995?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 13, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><p>After all, We Steal Secrets was so egregious in its spin that not only did WikiLeaks supporters like World Socialist Website and journalist Jonathan Cook pan it as a smear at the time, but WikiLeaks itself went to the trouble of publishing a <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/IMG\/html\/gibney-transcript.html\">line-by-line refutation<\/a> of the mountains of propaganda distortion heaped on the narrative by filmmaker\u00a0Alex Gibney.<\/p><p>&#8220;The title (&#8216;We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks&#8217;) is false,&#8221; WikiLeaks writes at the beginning of its response. &#8220;It directly implies that WikiLeaks steals secrets. In fact, the statement is made by former CIA\/NSA director Michael Hayden in relation to the activities of US government spies, not in relation to WikiLeaks. This an irresponsible libel. Not even critics in the film say that WikiLeaks steals secrets.&#8221;<\/p><p>&#8220;Gibney\u2019s latest release\u2014<em>We Steal Secrets<\/em>:\u00a0<em>The Story of WikiLeaks<\/em>\u2014is something else again,&#8221; World Socialist Website <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2013\/07\/02\/wiki-j02.html\">wrote in 2013<\/a>. &#8220;The 130-minute feature is a political hatchet job against Julian Assange and dovetails with the media and US government campaign against the WikiLeaks web site. Whether Gibney has shifted to the right or simply revealed the fatal limitations of his liberal &#8216;oppositional&#8217; views is a matter for a separate discussion. In any event, his newest work is an effort at disinformation.&#8221;<\/p><p>&#8220;The job of a good documentarist is to weigh the available material and then present as honest a record of what it reveals as possible. Anything less is at best polemic, if it sides with those who are silenced and weak, and at worst propaganda, if it sides with those who wield power,&#8221; <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/2013-07-29\/the-assassination-of-julian-assange\/\">critiqued Jonathan Cook<\/a> at the time.<\/p><blockquote\nclass=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\"><p\nlang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">RELEASE: &quot;We Steal Secrets: Not the Story of WikiLeaks&quot; full annotated transcript <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/t.co\/Va4R9LOsy4\">http:\/\/t.co\/Va4R9LOsy4<\/a> <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WeStealSecrets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@westealsecrets<\/a> <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/baluebolivar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BaLueBolivar<\/a><\/p><p>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wikileaks\/status\/337644323610968066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 23, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><p>This would not be the first time Netflix has helped circulate narratives that advance the interests of the US empire, or the second, or the third, having already run blatantly propagandistic &#8220;documentaries&#8221; advancing imperial interests in nations like\u00a0<a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hbdv_6Dx5uE\">Ukraine<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iLMpJvzpGF8\">Russia<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6eWBmVprInQ\">Egypt<\/a>, and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81077851\">multiple<\/a> <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AmPSNhlU8jw\">ones<\/a> <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WrJ8zpgMGOg\">about<\/a>\u00a0<a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fQM6t1oSQkE\">Syria<\/a>. Netflix has also signed deals with <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.oprahdaily.com\/entertainment\/tv-movies\/a27323589\/barack-michelle-obama-list-netflix-shows\/\">the Obamas<\/a>\u00a0and with <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/09\/02\/business\/media\/harry-meghan-netflix.html\">British royalty<\/a>.<\/p><p>So they&#8217;re not exactly looking out for the little guy, which from a company <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.gobankingrates.com\/money\/business\/how-much-is-netflix-worth\/\">worth an estimated $229 billion<\/a>\u00a0should come as no surprise.<\/p><p>Still, such open facilitation of the world&#8217;s most powerful government in its campaign to <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2021\/06\/15\/revisiting-the-case-of-julian-assange-and-the-reality-of-the-rule-of-law\/\">imprison a journalist for inconvenient journalistic activity<\/a> is a special kind of reprehensible. If there is a healthy humanity in the future, it will look back on the worldwide <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/caityjohnstone.medium.com\/debunking-all-the-assange-smears-a549fd677cac\">smear campaign<\/a> against Assange and WikiLeaks with horror.<\/p><p>_______________________<\/p><p><em><em\nclass=\"js\">My work is\u00a0<a\nhref=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2021\/05\/24\/my-experiments-with-hacking-capitalism\/\">entirely reader-supported<\/a>, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on\u00a0<a\nclass=\"cm di jn jo jp jq\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CaitlinAJohnstone\/\"  rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a\nclass=\"cm di jn jo jp jq\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\"  rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a\nhref=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/going_rogue\">Soundcloud<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/CaitlinJohnstone\/videos\">YouTube<\/a>, or\u00a0throwing some money into my tip jar on\u00a0<a\nhref=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/caitlinjohnstone\">Ko-fi<\/a>,\u00a0<a\nclass=\"cm di jn jo jp jq\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/user?u=4445783\"  rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Patreon<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a\nclass=\"cm di jn jo jp jq\" href=\"https:\/\/paypal.me\/caitlinjohnstone\"  rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Paypal<\/a>. 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The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at\u00a0<a\nclass=\"cm di jn jo jp jq\" href=\"http:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/\"  rel=\"noopener nofollow\">my website<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a\nhref=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/\">on Substack<\/a>, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish.<\/em><em\nclass=\"js\">\u00a0Everyone, racist platforms excluded,\u00a0<a\nclass=\"cm di jn jo jp jq\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\/i-permanently-release-all-copyrights-to-all-my-writing-use-any-of-it-however-you-want-9ad929b92d42\"  rel=\"noopener\">has my permission<\/a>\u00a0to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I\u2019ve written) in any way they like free of charge.\u00a0<\/em><\/em><em\nclass=\"js\">For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I\u2019m trying to do with this platform,\u00a0<\/em><a\nclass=\"cm di jn jo jp jq\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@caityjohnstone\/11-things-you-should-know-about-me-and-where-im-coming-from-a6b9ddf9806e\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em\nclass=\"js\">click here<\/em><\/a><em\nclass=\"js\">.\u00a0<\/em><\/p> <figure\nclass=\"ia ib ic id ie if fr fs paragraph-image\"><div\nclass=\"fr fs jt\"><div\nclass=\"im r ez ff\"><div\nclass=\"ju io r\"><img\nclass=\"ef qe s t u dq ai is\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/max\/514\/0*paUsi0SrKB2QX9ci\" sizes=\"571px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/max\/552\/0*paUsi0SrKB2QX9ci 276w, https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/max\/1104\/0*paUsi0SrKB2QX9ci 552w, https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/max\/1142\/0*paUsi0SrKB2QX9ci 571w\" width=\"571\" height=\"266\" \/><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/figure><p\nid=\"bc8b\" class=\"it jh ap bx iv b iw ix ji iy iz jj ja jb jk jc jd jl je jf jm jg gd\" data-selectable-paragraph=\"\">Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2<\/p> \n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2021\/10\/14\/netflix-to-launch-wikileaks-smear-job-three-days-before-assange-court-date\/\">Caitlin Johnstone<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to a reading of this article: \u2756 Netflix will begin streaming a brazen hatchet job on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks for its American subscribers on October 24th, just three days prior to a significant court date in Assange\u2019s fight against extradition from the UK [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1775,1787,868,4,583,205],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348012"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":348013,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348012\/revisions\/348013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}