From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. Last Saturday, as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sat in a British prison cell fighting extradition to Sweden for questioning on allegations of rape, Saturday Night Lives Bill Hader offered this impersonation.

Hello again.

It's me, Julian Assange.

I've taken over your airways from inside of British prison.

How did I get a camera into a British prison?

Maybe you weren't listening.

I'm Julian Assange.

This week, Assange was released on bail,

while U.S. prosecutors scrambled to find a way to prosecute him for publishing classified documents.

Attorney General Eric Holder has given investigators the go-ahead to take, quote, significant steps in building a case against Assange.

But so far, the Justice Department can't find a crime with which to charge him.

This week, 19 members of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism sent a letter to Holder and President Obama,

urging restraint, quote, as a historical matter, government overreaction to publication of leaked

material in the press has always been more damaging to American democracy than the leaks themselves.

Todd Gittlin is the chair of Columbia Journalism School's Ph.D. program and a signatory to the letter.

Todd, welcome to the show. Pleasure to be here. Okay, I'm just going to give us a little legal background.

Officials have looked into the 1917

espionage act and the 1986 computer fraud and abuse acts, but arresting publishers, and that's

what Assange is, runs afoul of the First Amendment. So, justice is trying to learn if Assange

actually enticed or helped the Army analyst, who's the alleged leaker,

that would make Assange a conspirator, not just a recipient, which would likely clear the First Amendment hurdle.

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