The last few notable years of his career had been less about "defending that natural right to whistleblowing" and more about "make sure only the right whistles get blown"
Given the same treatment now do you think Chris Cuomo, Rachael Maddow, or Don Lemmon would have done?
I'm not intimately familiar with those three particular journalists, but it's far from unheard of for American journalists to go to jail protecting their principles. And I'd point out that it's even more common for them to argue for their principles in court, which Assange is trying his hardest to avoid.
Now the point about I may have done same thing given the same actors against me - does not make it house arrest.