Julian Assange has been a free man since June, but the issue of his long confinement in a UK prison is still in the news. Recently he testified before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Council then passed a resolution declaring that Assange could be designated a political prisoner. Independent journalist Kevin Gosztola joins Mickey to examine the implications of the PACE decision. They also discuss other press-freedom issues, notably the unprecedented death toll among journalists in the Gaza Strip, at the hands of Israeli forces.

Then Steve Macek looks at foreign campaign spending in U.S. elections, taking note both of its widespread presence as well as the relative lack of interest by corporate media in reporting on the subject. He observes that only occasional stories about individual politicians’ potential campaign funding transgressions (such as those of NYC Mayor Eric Adams) make the news, but the system itself is seldom covered.

Kevin Gosztola is the editor of the Dissenter newsletter, www.thedissenter.org. His book on the Julian Assange case, Guilty of Journalism, was published in 2023.

The post Assange testifies at PACE / Pervasiveness of foreign money in U.S. political campaigns appeared first on KPFA.