As I have pointed out on FB several times, had the NYT or CNN published the e-mails (especially if they were from the RNC), then it would be called "investigative journalism" and they would have been giving each other awards and signing movie deals. According to reports I've seen, it took the DNC several months to realize they had been hacked (someone else was in control of their servers) and then they e-mailed "new" passwords to all their users
and were promptly hacked again.
Now, if Putin had Hillary's e-mails from her even less secure server, then imagine having a President that could be easily blackmailed by Putin as opposed to one that is not. Perhaps, just perhaps we did avoid something much, much worse.
Besides, Assange states that the e-mails came from within the DNC (most likely from a disaffected Bernie supporter, therefore a "leak", not a "hack") and not "The Russians". See point 2 above. Why would Putin support the guy that owes him nothing, when he could have a puppet on string ??
I think we have dodged a much greater threat than we will ever know, thanks to those "deplorables" in PA, MI, and WI (among others).