Marcus Baram thinks he can just SAY this about someone — unsupported by evidence and with impunity. I'm not impressed with his journalistic professionalism. Weasel.

This super sleazy opening line from Marcus Baram (maybe we can blame his subeditor?) illustrates the lazy acceptance of a smear … or is he just trying to be a colourful writer? FAIL.

NEW YORK — A super-secret organization led by a white-haired, cold-blooded lothario that uncovers revelations exposing the wrongdoing of the world’s most powerful countries and companies is itself unraveling in a spiral of jealousy, recrimination and violent threats.

The WikiLeaks saga has more drama than the most compelling Hollywood thriller and a new tell-all book by the organization’s former second-in-command has all the makings of an in-demand script — and could prove to be useful fodder for the Justice Department’s case against the whistleblower organization.

In the wake of his public falling-out with WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange, Daniel Domscheit-Berg’s new book, “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” hits bookstores today. The book has been denounced by some WikiLeaks supporters, who claim that the author can’t be trusted since he was fired by Assange.

Domscheit-Berg, a German computer scientist who recently announced plans for OpenLeaks, which he claims will be a more transparent and politically neutral whistleblower platform, reveals:…

What a credulous creature some in the media can be (yes, I’m looking at you Marcus) in their simpleton’s gameness for ‘a new book published today says …’

I personally view a lot of the negative media clobbering of Julian Assange as indicative of feelings of inferiority … he makes them look wimpy … but, as noted elsewhere, I generally do try to steer clear of ascribing motives. Let’s just say, based on this breathless masterpiece, Marcus Baram’s journalistic professionalism “… is itself unraveling in a spiral of jealousy, recrimination and vapid, self-serving purple prose.”

Whatever the motives, ‘cold-blooded lothario’ Marcus Baram (how does that cap fit?) in this case looks like he’s just being a tool* of this aggrieved former WikiLeaks insider — now himself looking for some free publicity for his new book and his new website.  How’s this:

… Domscheit-Berg, a programmer known as “The Architect” and other key insiders defected from the group. He reveals that he took with him everything he had set up and installed during his time at the group and that defectors removed thousands of sensitive documents submitted to WikiLeaks.

Try that behaviour anywhere else you work (as well as smearing your former colleagues for cheap publicity/15 minutes of fame) and see how that affects your relationships… why don’t you try it, Marcus?

* Or a tool of a different stroke, as elucidated by a commenter at Huffington Post:

This guy is as bought by the CIA as Huff-Post is by AOL.