Washington, Dec 17 (ANI): A group of journalists and press freedom activists have launched an organization to support Julian Assange's whistle blowing website Wikileaks that ran into trouble raising money.
WikiLeaks began publishing leaked diplomatic cables in November 2010, and faced scrutiny and criticism from lawmakers across the globe.
This prompted several companies, including MasterCard, Visa and PayPal, to stop processing donations to the non-profit organization.
WikiLeaks eventually suspended publication due to the 'bank blockade.'
On Sunday, a group of journalists and activists launched the Freedom of the Press Foundation as a way to crowd-source funding for WikiLeaks and independent journalistic organizations that expose government corruption and advocate for transparency, the Huffington Post reports.
"Since WikiLeaks became a front-page news story, secrecy has gotten worse in the U.S," the report quoted Trevor Timm, co-founder and executive director for the Freedom of Press Foundation, as saying.
According to the report, the foundation plans to direct tax deductible donations to WikiLeaks for as long as payment processors block the organization, while protecting other outlets if they are similarly targeted.
"WikiLeaks was the inspiration for it, but we wanted to make the mission much broader than WikiLeaks," Timm said. (ANI)
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