Wikileaks' Assange signs book deal

8 Jan 2011, 11:36 am   -   Source: AAP
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange signs a book deal. (Getty)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange signs a book deal. (Getty)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has signed a book deal to tell his "fascinating" life story.

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Transparency activist Julian Assange is hiring a public relations firm after a series of damaging blows to his image.

The WikiLeaks founder, who is on bail in the English countryside during his fight to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, has taken a battering in the media in recent weeks.

The web whistleblower's secret-spilling, including the publishing of tens of thousands of US embassy cables, have made him a worldwide celebrity but it is the allegations against him that have led to his personal life being scrutinised.

Mr Assange has not helped himself with some unfortunate public comments since being freed last month following nine nights in custody at a south London jail.

He risked angering sexual rights campaigners by saying the two women making allegations against him had got into a "tizzy" about his failure to have an STD test following unprotected sex with them.

His online dating profile has been dredged up and he was accused of hypocrisy for complaining about details of the Swedish prosecution's case being leaked to the media.

On his sex life, he made the cringeworthy remark that: "Women have been extremely helpful and generous to me."

Mr Assange's team has decided to shield him from the media by looking to stitch up a deal with London public relations firm Borkowski, owned by master publicist Mark Borkowski, who declares on its website: "I want to create communications that journalists and consumers can't ignore; insights that shift perceptions, narratives that write history."

The firm has a four-member team dealing with media enquiries relating to Mr Assange. It is also setting up an online weekly media conference to deliver messages from Mr Assange and WikiLeaks.

It only began representing Mr Assange on Friday morning and Mr Borkowski said he was not comfortable talking about the arrangements until a deal was signed, "hopefully this weekend".

One of Mr Assange's previously publicity-friendly lawyers told AAP this week they were no longer giving interviews and a representative from Borkowski said the controversial figure was not conducting media interviews due to "legal reasons".

Not that it appeared to have been such a problem when he talked to several news organisations following his release on bail last month to the 10-room mansion on a sprawling Suffolk estate.

Such has been the media interest in the case that Tuesday's session has been moved from City of Westminster Magistrates' Court to Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in southeast London.

The more substantive extradition hearing has been set down for February 7-8.

Mr Assange has also signed a book deal to tell his "fascinating" life story.

Edinburgh-based Canongate Books says it has acquired world rights - apart from North America - to his story.

It says he will discuss his philosophies in the book and quotes him as saying: "I hope this book will become one of the unifying documents of our generation. In this highly personal work, I explain our global struggle to force a new relationship between the people and their governments."

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