Blogger jailed for defying grand jury sets record-He's U.S. journalist imprisoned longest in contemp

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 2/6/7 | Bob Egelko

[SmithL]

Josh Wolf, a blogger who refused to give a videotape of a San Francisco anarchist protest to a federal grand jury, achieves an unwanted distinction today, when he becomes the longest-imprisoned journalist for contempt of court in U.S. history.

Wolf, 24, is spending his 169th day at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, surpassing the imprisonment of Vanessa Leggett, a Texas freelancer who defied a grand jury's subpoena in 2001 for notes from a book she was writing about a murder case.

Leggett was freed when the grand jury's term expired. The grand jury in Wolf's case, which is investigating an alleged arson attempt on a San Francisco police car, is scheduled to adjourn in July. But a prosecutor said in court papers last month that the term could be extended six months.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup held Wolf in contempt of court in August, denied furloughs for him for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and turned down his latest bid for freedom in a one-paragraph order Jan. 30 without holding a hearing.

Wolf brought his video camera to a July 2005 Mission District protest against an economic summit taking place in Scotland. A police officer was hit in the head and suffered a fractured skull, and a foam cushion under a patrol car was set on fire -- the basis for the federal investigation, because the car was partly funded with a federal grant to the Police Department.

Part of Wolf's video was shown on local television, but a Joint Terrorism Task Force of FBI agents and police sought the entire tape and Wolf refused, saying he would not act as the government's eyes and ears. In court, his lawyers said the tape showed no evidence of a crime and invited Alsup to look at the outtakes, but...

[L98Fiero]

So "blogger" and "journalist" are interchangable now. I see.

[Constitution Day]

t

[Robert DeLong]

I hope he stays there 40 years.

[JeeperFreeper]

Journalists are simply not above the law. Welcome to the world of the rest of us, the great unwashed, have to live in.

[SFC Chromey]

"Wolf's lawyers plan to file another motion for release sometime before July, arguing that his imprisonment amounts to punishment for someone who has committed no crime."

Umm yeah, your client broke the law by assisting others who have committed felonies. Go back to law school, you obviously missed a year or two of important classes.

[HKMk23]

Journalists are simply not above the law.

And, even if they were, Mr. Wolf is NOT a journalist.

I'm not one to rise to the defense of journalists, given what they have become, but I will say that every credentialed working journalist in the country should take exception to the notion implicit in this story that "some dude with a blog" == "journalist".

[SmithL]

SO, you had it. I was wondering where it went.
; )

[jim_trent]

Its not like he has a real job, right?

[Brad from Tennessee]

You're right. Now he's getting three square meals a day, a roof over his head, free TV and medical care. After this long he may have been given a job in the kitchen or laundry. Probably why he has not complained too loudly.

[Constitution Day]

They call me Mr. t, you know.

I pity the fool that confuses me with my gold-laden, uppercase brother, who has no time for jibba-jabba.

:)

[ma bell]

and I'm sure he'll learn a trade, take correspance courses and complete his Masters Degree too.

[Plains Drifter]

Journalist Hhhhmmm---NO LOSS!!!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

There may be some rationale to protecting journalist's sources -- on the basis that they wouldn't have come forward in the first place, if they weren't expecting the protection. (Please note -- I'm just saying that it is a debatable point.)

However, even if sources were protected, that protection would not apply in this case. There were no anonymous sources -- just street criminals acting out in public.

[HipShot]

"Umm yeah, your client broke the law by assisting others who have committed felonies. Go back to law school, you obviously missed a year or two of important classes."

He was convicted of nothing.

If he's worried about self incrimination he should make a deal with the prosecutor. The fifth amendment is the only thing he could realistically claim as applicable.

He claims that there's no evidence on the tape. If that's the case he should have turned it over immediately. I have no sympathy for morons. There is no "source" to protect. He's grandstanding.

[jiggyboy]

There is no "source" to protect. He's grandstanding.

This is the case in a nutshell. Previous cases such as Watergate and the Valerie Plame issue are based on journalists exposing government malfesance, crimes, whatever. He can't be so dense that he thinks that hiding evidence of a car being broken is the same kind of case.

[BfloGuy]

And, even if they were, Mr. Wolf is NOT a journalist. I'm not one to rise to the defense of journalists, given what they have become, but I will say that every credentialed working journalist in the country should take exception to the notion implicit in this story that "some dude with a blog" == "journalist".

Oh really. And what are the credentials necessary to make one a journalist? A degree from a journalism school?

Lawyers need credentials, engineers need credentials and medical doctors need credentials. Journalists are just writers and you and even the lowly bloggers can do that. Please don't try to elevate journalism into some priesthood that it isn't.

[HKMk23]

Oh really. And what are the credentials necessary to make one a journalist? A degree from a journalism school?

Gee, I dunno; maybe having a JOB doing it for MONEY would be a good start, which is why I bothered to couple "credentialed" and "working" together. I had in mind people who do journalism as an occupation, not a hobby; you know, the kind of work where you actually have a bona fide PRESS PASS (a.k.a. press credential) from a real newspaper, magazine, or broadcast news organization.

Some yokel blogging from his apartment...? No dice.

Please don't try to elevate journalism into some priesthood that it isn't.

Please, elucidate as to how asserting that there is an obvious delineation between working journalists and run-of-the-mill bloggers constitutes "try[ing] to elevate journalism into some priesthood that it isn't."

[SFC Chromey]

I never said he was convicted. His lawyer states in the story that he didn't anything wrong. His lawyer is wrong, because he is abetting criminals that committed felonies.

[sig226]

And while he's in there, they can prepare a case against him for obstruction of justice. :)

[sig226]

As annoying as reporters usually are, (not to mention stupid) a body of law exists that gaurantees the press access to certain things and freedom of movement above and beyond that of the typical man on the street. Many states also have shield laws so that a reporter can't be forced to reveal a confidential source. I thought there was a federal one, but I must be wrong about that.

Of course, this guy isn't a reporter in any way, and his video is of criminal acts done in public view. There is no source to protect because a person has no expectation of privacy when he commits a crime in the middle of the street. Or else maybe there is something on that tape that he does not want the court to see.

Whatever his motivation, they should charge him with obstructing justice and give him a long sentence. The contempt charge won't make him change his mind, so forget it. His friends probably think he's a hero. They can visit him every third Saturday. They can even bring him a floppy disk with a file in it.

Get it? A floppy disk with a file in it! Thank you, thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen, the next show starts at 10:30, don't forget to tip the waiters . . .

[Kevmo]

BFLR

[American_Centurion]

I agree that this guy is grandstanding, has no source to protect, and is obviously a lefty stink-hippie. I am concerned with the fact that FBI involvement stemmed from the ever-so-flimsy fact that "patrol car was set on fire, the basis for the federal investigation, because the car was partly funded with a federal grant to the Police Department."

Goes to show that no one is safe from Uncle Sugar.

[piasa]

In this country if we treat journalists as a separate class of people, eventually there will be no journalists at all, only a select group of certified or credentialled- propagandists.

We're close enough to that as it is.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

...Wolf said he falls asleep around midnight and finds himself awake a few hours later, "living out the same story again and again"

In other words, it's pretty much the same as his life on the outside was.

[HKMk23]

It's built into the Constitution that we treat journalists differently; it's that part about "freedom of the press", but that doesn't mean we need to afford some Joe sixpack blogger the same journalistic stature as Brit Hume or Wolf Blitzer just because he figured out how to run his own blog.

Some journalists have blogs. Some blogs have risen to the level of professional journalism; those that have grown to where they've got major traffic, and can sell enough advertising to live off of their blogs. But blogs of that stature are one in 100,000.

Check out the numerical reality in the blog world here:
http://truthlaidbear.com/ecosystem.php

[HKMk23]

Goes to show that no one is safe from Uncle Sugar.

ALL Federal $$$ comes with Federal strings attached.