Herhold: Film of protest puts maker in legal jeopardy
By Scott Herhold
Mercury News
Josh Wolf, 24, is 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. His blog bears the motto ``The Revolution Will Be Televised.
Today in San Francisco, he's at the center of a bubbling controversy that could send him to jail for not testifying before a grand jury about a protest he covered a year ago in the city's Mission district.
It's the kind of case that reflexively puts journalists on edge. If there's anything we detest, it's being compelled to act as agents of the state.
Yet the nuances of the Wolf affair pockmark it with dabs of gray that make clear we're dealing with a new medium but old dilemmas.
Here's the background: On July 8, 2005, a group of anarchists held a demonstration to protest the Group of Eight summit in Scotland. As they marched into the Mission, things turned ugly, with protesters overturning news racks and police wading into the crowd with batons.
In the course of this melee, a protester conked a cop over the head, opening his scalp with a nasty wound. It was a serious assault. And it prompted the San Francisco cops to ask the FBI's help in investigating the case.
Digital recording
Wolf was filming the action, though his attorneys say he didn't get the moment of the conk. He posted an edited video about the event on his blog site (www.joshwolf.net).
A few days later, the FBI was at his door, wanting the rest of his digital recording. Wolf said no. The matter was eventually referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is trying to compel Wolf to turn over the recording. Wolf says he'll go to jail instead.
``It's important that independent journalists have the same rights and protection as the mainstream media,
he says, arguing that turning over the tape would chill his abilities to act as a journalist.
I'm willing to give him part of this argument. As the case involving bloggers and Apple suggested, it's wrong to draw lines between citizen bloggers and professional journalists.
What's more, Wolf has the right instincts in resisting government pressure to become an arm of the state. We've seen too many excesses by the feds. Journalists need leeway to do their jobs.
But as we enter the new multimedia world, citizen journalists who want the public trust and consider themselves working for the public interest should weigh their responsibilities carefully.
Here's my suggestion: Wolf should post his entire video on the Web, and declare it not an act of caving in but one of advancing journalism in its most basic sense.
A different stance
Consider it another way. Suppose it was the cop who conked a protester. And suppose Wolf was a right-wing blogger who refused to turn over his recording to investigators of the assault. Wouldn't progressive forces say he should make it public?
Though it's arguable that federal authorities used a pretext to get involved in this case, Wolf faces an uphill battle legally. Because this case is in federal court, the state's media shield laws do not apply. ``He's probably going to have to cough it up,'' said Lucy Dalglish, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Mainstream radio and television have long since evolved ways to avoid becoming arms of the state. In some cases, they'll post unedited outtakes on the Web. In other cases, they'll erase, or recycle, recordings after 48 hours.
Wolf apparently didn't do that. He didn't have a corporate legal department to advise him. And he identified with the protesters he filmed. In some ways, the penalty he faces today is a reminder of the perils of being an involved citizen journalist in a world of big, nasty shoulders.
Contact Scott Herhold at sherhold@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5877.
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