On Thursday, the Department of Justice unsealed new charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The DOJ has aimed a battering ram at the freedom of the press, whether you think Assange is a journalist or not. The indictment, which you can read in full below, alleges that Assange published classified information over a dozen times, an act expressly forbidden by the Espionage Act, which Congress first passed in 1917. John Demers, who leads the Justice Department's National Security Division, attempted to draw a distinction between Assange and traditional media outlets to reporters Thursday. "Put simply, these unprecedented charges against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are the most significant and terrifying threat to the First Amendment in the 21st century," Trevor Timm, cofounder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement. Bringing charges against Assange for alleged hacking at least made sense. The blast radius of an Espionage Act conviction against Assange would include every working national security journalist. Read more