......."My article for NYTX documented many changes that Times Editors made to each version of Somaiya’s article on Assange. These changes included substantial headline and lede alterations as well as complete overwrites of the article’s body and story focus: speculation on what Assange’s asylum request may mean for the future role of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in Latin America, the prospect for a “dramatic showdown” after Ecuador denies or approves Assanges request, and attempts to portray Assange as a spent man “who once sought to change the world,” and more.

The first version of Somaiya’s article, grabbed by NewsDiffs on June 20 at 11:19 AM, explained that “The United States, according to persistent reports, has impaneled a grand jury to investigate Mr. Assange over the release by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of classified American military and diplomatic documents in 2010.”

The final version of the June 20 article contains no mention of the Grand Jury investigation. One would think that the threat of a Grand Jury investigation and the possibility of facing detention conditions similar to those of Private Bradley Manning — which may fall under international standards of torture or cruel and inhumane treatment — would be vital information for understanding why Assange sought asylum. (Brief reference to the Grand Jury investigation did appear in a June 19 article according to data captured by NewsDiffs but was overwritten to make way for radically different content which was confusingly also uploaded as a separate article.)

The Times published information about the Grand Jury three weeks earlier with much detail. Just hours after this article was published Times Editors deleted fifteen paragraphs, including Somaiya and his co-author John F. Burns’ assertion that “extradition to the United States — involving what would almost certainly be another lengthy legal battle — could put [Assange] in jeopardy of a much harsher punishment. If found guilty on espionage charges, he could face a life sentence in a maximum-security prison.”.......