Blogger stays in prison, defying grand jury order [ Josh Wolf ]

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 10/16/6 | Demian Bulwa

[SmithL]

Blogger and anarchist Josh Wolf, spending his 57th day in federal prison today for refusing to surrender video he shot of a violent San Francisco protest, is well on his way to becoming the longest-jailed journalist in U.S. history.

To the government, the 24-year-old San Franciscan is hindering a federal grand jury investigation into serious crimes -- an attack on a police officer who suffered a fractured skull during the July 2005 rally and the attempted burning of his patrol car.

To Wolf and his supporters, including prominent press organizations, he is the latest victim of a Bush administration assault on journalists and is being punished because he won't help a law enforcement fishing expedition. Wolf says he didn't even film the crimes in question.

But Wolf's case features its own thorny questions. Among them are where the line between journalist and activist is drawn, and which side of that line Wolf is on. Another is whether federal agents are using the investigation into the rally as part of a broader attack on the anarchist movement, as Wolf contends.

The standoff was brought into sharper focus last week when an attorney for Wolf described for The Chronicle the portions of the video that Wolf has withheld from the grand jury since being called to testify in February. Wolf had posted an edited version on the Internet, parts of which were shown in television news reports after the protest.

The attorney, Martin Garbus, said the footage does not depict the crimes in question, but features interviews with about 10 protesters who shed masks to speak into Wolf's camera lens.

"They expected he would safeguard them,

[SmithL]

[Right Cal Gal]

Yeah - he's a journalist.
And I'm the Czarina of all the Russias.

[theDentist]

Leave him in there... hindering a criminal investigation... maybe aiding/abetting an assault... criminal conspiracy...

[osideplanner]

Is that the prison in the background where he will be locked-up?

[p[adre29]

Nonsense, he ahs video of a assualt on a police officer, he is not turing evidence over to the investigation,

I hope Mondays is chicken fried steak day.

[camle]

guy looks like RIck Moranis

[dead]

If butt ugliness were a crime, he'd never smell freedom again.

[wideawake]

Calling Wolf a journalist is disingenuous.

It would be like referring to John Wayne Gacy as a painter.

Wolf's main role is as a violent street protester, his blogging is a secondary activity.

[Joe 6-pack]

"guy looks like RIck Moranis"

Inside the prison, he looks more like Heather Locklear.

[camle]

LOL~!

[Mr. Lucky]

Yuk. Insightful post, but yuk, nonetheless.

[Sir Gawain]

Why do commies always look so dorky?

[Hildy]

Actually, he makes Rick Moranis look handsome, and that's hard to do.

[baystaterebel]

Well.....

I am sure he is used to getting beat up alot. Maybe we could all pull together and work up enough money to by him a few bars of soap on a rope.

To me he looks like a cross between Rick Moranis and Booger of Revenge of the Nerds fame.

Way to go Josh..............

LOOO OOOO OOOO ZZZZZZZER!

[EQAndyBuzz]

Good for him to stand up for what he believes in.

May his days spent in prison be fruitful.

[Idaho Whacko]

Masked protesters are not protesters, they are rioters. Why can't we shoot rioters anymore?

[oldfart]

"This is yet another sign that the government doesn't understand what journalists do,"

I disagree: This is a sign that government absolutely understands what journalists do. Journalists report stuff that the government doesn't want reported on and then protect their sources. Requiring him to be a member of the MSM would be tantamount to requiring him to work for the 'Ministry of Truth.'

I'm not sure I agree with his reasoning or his politics but at least he has the guts to stand on principle rather than just 'roll over' for the man. How many of us have said that people who disagree with the law should act on their principles regardless of the consequences? Remember all those alusions to guards in Nazi prison camps who just followed orders?

It's different when it's "our" ox that's being gored, isn't it?

[monday]

"Why do commies always look so dorky?"

You have noticed that too? I think that their ugliness makes them socially retarded which in turn leaves them sexually frustrated and angry. Communism is tailor made for angry frustrated losers.

The rich are striped of their wealth, the beautiful are made to wear ugly clothes, no makeup, and quit bathing, and everyone has to rat on their neighbors making everyone just as angry, paranoid, sexually frustrated, poor, and pathetic as the communists were originally.

Communism is their revenge on the world for being born an ugly dork.

[monday]

"Remember all those alusions to guards in Nazi prison camps who just followed orders?"

I would applaud his actions if he were protecting those who were standing up to Nazi oppression. But that isn't what he is doing is he. He is protecting people who tried to kill a man by fracturing his skull.

In my book, that puts him on the side of oppression and death, not freedom. If you need help determining who the bad guys are, it is generally the ones who are using violence to get their way.

"Journalists report stuff that the government doesn't want reported on and then protect their sources."

Sadly, this guy is doing neither. By editing the film and refusing to show the rest, he is NOT reporting anything but his version of what happened. This makes him a propagandist, NOT a reporter.

He is also NOT protecting his source. The people that attempted to kill that man didn't come to him after the fact and whisper in his ear. He filmed them while they were doing it. That means he is protecting attempted murderers, not a "source". He is an accessory after the fact and as such he is just as guilty as the attempted murderers. He isn't a "journalist" in any sense of the word.

[piasa]

We are all journalists- though the MSM would like journalists to be above the law- hence their pursuit of a shield law to protect their lying. In that pursuit of course they are also seeking to become a separate class of people from ordinary citizens- and they seek to deny every American's right to be a part of the press.

Josh Wolf's problem isn't that he's not a journalist. His problem is that he's not above the law and he is witholding evidence of a crime. HIs problem is that journalists are not above the law though many think they are.

Neither he nor a journalist working for the NY Times is - or should be- entitled to withhold evidence of a crime.

The first ammendment wasn't established for a special class of people- it applies to us all. But in its protection of free speech there is nothing there ensuring that we have some kind of right to conceal information or withold speech.