http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/j ... on-radio-4Julian Assange to be guest on Radio 4's Today programmeFounder of WikiLeaks, holed up in embassy in London for more than a year, chosen by guest editor PJ Harvey
Press Association
The Guardian, Wednesday 1 January 2014
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who has been holed up in an embassy in London for more than a year, is to be a guest on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Assange, who has been granted asylum by Ecuador but faces arrest if he leaves the country's London embassy, will be giving his thoughts on the history of the control of information on Thursday.
He has been chosen by the day's guest editor, musician PJ Harvey, to speak on the news show which will also feature contributions from campaigning journalist John Pilger and a Thought for the Day from the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, in the form of a poem.
The singer, who was awarded an MBE last summer, said she was assured by the BBC that the guests she had chosen would not be edited. Harvey is one of a number of guest editors who are commissioned by the programme each year over the Christmas and the new year period.
Others in the past few days have included Michael Palin and Lady Manningham-Buller, the former director general of MI5.
A statement issued on the singer's behalf said: "Having received a guarantee from the BBC not to edit her contributors, Harvey carefully selects a diverse group with thought-provoking views."
Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy while he faced extradition to Sweden to face rape allegations and he was given asylum in August 2012.
Harvey's Today programme will be broadcast from 6am on Thursday and will feature poems read by actor Ralph Fiennes including William Blake's London and song extracts from Tom Waits, Joan Baez and New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.