Based on whose definition? Is a journalism degree a requirement? If you define it solely in economic terms, then a part-time stringer for Reuters isn't a journalist because, after all, they're not "professional" journalists. Wasn't this the argument made in Myanmar when it incarcerated the two Reuters 'journalists'? Freelance journalists are not journalists? Or do you want to go down the path of having government license journalists? Then there's no doubt. Some countries do this already. The writers who contributed to Ariana Huffington's blog but didn't share in the payday when she sold it? Were they journalists? The DoJ reached the conclusion that there was no principled distinction between the NYTimes and Wikileaks. Trump's DoJ reached a different conclusion. The UK has already recognized Assange as a journalist. He may be a new media journalist, he may be a crusading journalist, he may be an unpopular journalist, but he is a journalist by any reasonable definition: he gathers news and publishes it.