Josh Wolf : Integrity = Jail

Josh Wolf, 24, “a dark-haired fireplug of a man who sees the world through the lenses of an activist, an anarchist and a filmmaker who posts his videos on the Web” has been sent to jail by US District Judge William Alsup for refusing to compromise his journalistic and political integrity by co-operating with a grand jury and supplying them with footage of anarchist protesters. As Laura Locke, writing for Time magazine (August 3, 2006) notes, “Wolf is the first blogger to be targeted by federal authorities for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury”.

According to The New York Times :

‘Blogger Jailed After Defying Court Orders’
Jesse McKinley
August 2, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 1 — A freelance journalist and blogger was jailed on Tuesday after refusing to turn over video he took at an anticapitalist protest here last summer and after refusing to testify before a grand jury looking into accusations that crimes were committed at the protest.

The freelancer, Josh Wolf, 24, was taken into custody just before noon after a hearing in front of Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court. Found in contempt, Mr. Wolf was later moved to a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., and could be imprisoned until next summer, when the grand jury term expires, said his lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes.

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors subpoenaed Mr. Wolf to testify before a grand jury and turn over video from the demonstration, held in the Mission District on July 8, 2005. The protest, tied to a Group of 8 meeting of world economic vandals in Scotland, ended in a clash between demonstrators and the San Francisco police, with one officer sustaining a fractured skull.

A smoke bomb or a firework was also put under a police car, and investigators are looking into whether arson was attempted on a government-financed vehicle.

Mr. Wolf, who posted some of the edited video on his Web site, www.joshwolf.net, and sold some of it to local television stations, met with investigators, who wanted to see the raw video. But Mr. Wolf refused to hand over the tapes, arguing that he had the right as a journalist to shield his sources.

On Tuesday, Judge Alsup disagreed, ruling that the grand jury “has a legitimate need” to see what Mr. Wolf filmed.

Mr. Wolf, a recent college graduate, is the latest journalist to face prison time for refusing to cooperate with federal investigators. Last year, the New York Times reporter Judith Miller served nearly three months in jail after refusing to divulge her sources in the investigation of the leak of a covert C.I.A. agent’s name.

Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, said that although the jailing of journalists had become more common, Mr. Wolf’s case was the first she had heard of in which a blogger had been pursued and eventually jailed by federal authorities.

“There is a tendency on the part of the prosecutors to go aggressively after people not perceived to have a big gun behind them,” Ms. Kirtley said. “They are the most vulnerable links in the chain.”

While California has a so-called shield law meant to protect journalists and their sources, no such law exists at the federal level. Even if there was such a law, Ms. Kirtley said, it is unclear whether a blogger and freelancer would fall under it.

According to his Web site, Mr. Wolf has been active in his defense, holding news conferences and posting interviews and newspaper articles on his site. On Tuesday, however, the site’s last message read, “This blog will be updated sometime shortly after my hearing … wish me luck guys!”

Mr. Wolf has attracted supporters, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which introduced a resolution objecting to the federal government’s role in the investigation. The Society of Professional Journalists contributed to Mr. Wolf’s legal defense fund.

Mr. Fuentes said he had already prepared an appeal and would file it immediately. He also planned to ask for bail, though he was not certain where the money to post it would come from. “His mother has been trying to fund-raise,” Mr. Fuentes said. “But he might lose his job.”

Reporters Without Borders, among numerous others, has called for his immediate release.

The Australian media, on the other hand, has expressed its interest and solidarity by carefully avoiding making any reference to the case whatsoever.

Lucky he’s got a supportive Mum and comrades around the world then eh?