The New York Times’ executive editor Bill Keller criticized Julian Assange again, this time in Nieman Journalism Lab talk called “Secrecy and Journalism in the Media Age,” Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici reported.
Keller explained he doesn’t think he and Assange are the same type of journalist, and that WikiLeaks isn’t his “kind of news organization.”
“I don’t regard Julian Assange as a kindred spirit,” he said. “If he’s a journalist, he’s not the kind of journalist that I am,” he is quoted as saying.
Keller reiterated his description of WikiLeaks as source, not a fellow news maker.
“Throughout this experience, we have regarded Julian Assange and his merry band of provocateurs and hackers as a source,” he is quoted as saying. “I will not say a source pure and simple, because, as any reporter or editor can attest, sources are rarely pure or simple.”