WikiLeaks published a document that named an Algerian activist covertly aiding the democracy movement there. It identified a Venezuelan reporter secretly exposing the appalling conditions of hospitals for the poor. Both are real whistleblowers. Both were outed by Assange.
Assange admits WikiLeaks will probably end up with "blood on our hands." But he's not too worried.
Assange got his hands on e-mails sent by Venezuela's ambassador to Argentina. He tried to auction them to the highest bidder - presumably to Chavez, too. That's not journalism. That's a shakedown. Maybe even a willingness to keep secrets, for the right price.
Then there's Assange's threat that if he's treated improperly - say, if he's forced to stand trial for rape in Sweden - he'll release another batch of secrets, he has labelled "insurance."
If a real journalist had real news, he'd publish it for its own sake. But by using his "news" as a bargaining chip, he gives away his game. It's not journalism. It's espionage. It's a weapon of war. And if police try to hold him accountable to the law, he'll use his weapon.
Assange revealed secret U.S. counterterrorism work in Yemen. That will likely end now, and Yemen may fall to al-Qaida.
Do you doubt if WikiLeaks was around in the 1940s it would have tipped off the Nazis to D-Day or leaked Anne Frank's hiding place too?
