Julian Assange Announces The Launch Of New TV Show

Julian Assange Announces The Launch Of New TV Show
January 24, 2012
by Eyder Peralta - npr

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is trying to take his web-based provocations to the TV screen. Wikileaks announced Assange will host a television series featuring interviews with "key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world."

Wikileaks, which has published a vast amount of classified data including video and secret government documents, promises to "draw together controversial voices from across the political spectrum."

"Through this series I will explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it. Are we heading towards utopia, or dystopia and how we can set our paths?" Assange said in a statement.

The release didn't specify what networks will carry Assange's show, but it promised that it would be on-air by mid-March.

The AP spoke to Ellis Cashmore, an expert on celebrity culture at England's Staffordshire University, who wasn't too keen on endorsing Assange's TV skills.

"Assange has got a good, deep voice and agreeable Aussie accent, but he's a slow, deliberate talker and not especially televisual," Cashmore told the AP. "To be true to his image, he would have to make his proposed show subversive; and that might not appeal to many would-be guests."

The Guardian has started a list of politicians and celebrities they'd like to see spar with Assange. Among them: Tony Blair, Hillary Clinton and Rupert Murdoch.