Stefania Maurizi is an Italian investigative journalist working for the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, having previously reported for La Repubblica and l’Espresso. She began working with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks in 2009 for her newspaper. Among international journalists, she is the only one who has worked on the entirety of the WikiLeaks secret documents and the only one who has conducted a multi-jurisdictional litigation to defend the right of the press to access the full documentation on the WikiLeaks case. She will be joined by journalist Ewen Macaskill – former defence and intelligence correspondent at The Guardian.
STEFANIA MAURIZI
In 2008, Stefania Maurizi started looking into the little-known organisation WikiLeaks. Through hushed meetings, encrypted files and explosive documents, what she discovered set her on a life-long journey that took her deep into the realm of secret power.
In 2009, she began working with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks for her newspaper. Among international journalists, she is the only one who has worked on the entirety of the WikiLeaks secret documents and the only one who has conducted a multi-jurisdictional litigation to defend the right of the press to access the full documentation on the WikiLeaks case.
Her latest book Secret Power: WikiLeaks and Its Enemies” looks at the brutality of secret power and the unbearable price paid by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and truthtellers.
‘I want to live in a society where secret power is accountable to the law and to public opinion for its atrocities, where it is the war criminals who go to jail, not those who have the conscience and courage to expose them.’
EWEN MACASKILL
Ewen MacAskill is a Scottish journalist. He worked for 22 years on The Guardian, ending his career in September 2018 as the newspaper’s defence and intelligence correspondent. MacAskill was involved in preparing the publication disclosures from Edward Snowden of the activities of the American National Security Agency.
While based in the United States, he was involved in preparing the Edward Snowden revelations concerning the NSA for publication liaising with Snowden and his contact, Glenn Greenwald, who had brought the story to the attention of then Guardian US editor Janine Gibson. As a result of his reporting on Global surveillance disclosures, he was named co-recipient of the 2013 George Polk Award. The same reporting also contributed to the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded jointly to The Guardian and The Washington Post in April 2014.
MacAskill’s retirement from The Guardian was announced on 22 September 2018.