Assange and Snowden

I do not believe either Snowden or Assange to be journalists. I would classify both as activists though. I personally, like when people are able to let the public know of things that should be public knowledge, but that does not make either a journalist. This ties into the idea of whether a blogger is a journalist. There are ethical issues that stand in the way of either of these men being journalists. A journalist does not usually hack into secure information to get a story.
Assange hacked his information and then released it which actually could have landed in the hands of terrorists which is actually a great threat to us all. A journalist would have weighed the consequences of such behavior before moving forward. Also, a journalist would have found the information in a more ethical manner to begin with. Just because you start a website and name yourself the editor-in-chief of it does not actually make you a journalist.
Snowden would be classified more as a source than a journalist. He uncovered information at the NSA and then reached out to Glenn Greenwald to tell his story. He leaked sensitive information, but in no way is anything he did similar to the work journalists do. I would call him a whistleblower, if anything.