There’s a difference between socially unacceptable and “straight to jail”.

So just a straw man then?

Compare that to investigative journalism in general in the US. Journalists can publish pieces that are extremely critical of both the government and corporations.

Journalists can’t question systemic problems in US. Entire books have been written on how journalism in US has been subverted. Read Inventing Reality and Manufacturing consent which both provide numerous case studies.

The fact that you genuinely believe that quality of journalism in China, Russia, or Venezuela is significantly worse than in the west is illustration of the effectiveness of propaganda in western media.

Assange did real journalism and he is being tortured for it right now. Instead of being outraged by the war crimes he exposed you choose to smear the man.

Also, I highly recommend that you read in this book detailing political repression in US. A few excerpts: