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Interview With Jailed Video Blogger Josh Wolf
Video blogger and independent journalist Josh Wolf has been in a federal jail for 170 days for refusing to turn over to a federal grand jury a video of a San Francisco demonstration. On Feb. 6 Wolf's length of incarceration set a new record for US journalism. "Democracy Now!" has an interview with Josh Wolf from his jail cell. If federal authorities can jail bloggers with impunity, it does not bode well for the future of citizen journalism.
He has video of what are presumably illegal acts by anti-G8 demonstrators, which he refuses to turn over. Anybody - member of the old media or not - would be compelled to turn this over. And if they, the old media, don't have a right to withold evidence from a grand jury empaneled to investigate these crimes - why should he?
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Ah, the old "guilty until proven innocent" mentality.
Care about privacy? Read this!
What we're seeing here is an overzealous US attorney who wants to be able to show fragments of the tape to the grand jury, while suppressing other segments, in order to selectively support only his side of the argument. Don't forget that the courtroom is not about justice. It's about two teams, with money and careers to maintain, who need to create legal briefs which will ultimately give them the win.
Josh and his attorney want the tape to be shown to the judge first presumably so that the judge can see the _entire_ situation. The US attorney wants the tape for himself so that he can show only what he deems fit to the grand jury.
It's very likely that the tape contains evidence which would show an escalation of events--unnecessary force or police brutality which initiated the subsequent violence. The US attorney, of course, would only show the subsequent violence.
Duh.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
You know I read the article before the comments, and I'm quite surprised to see how many comments here are dissing this guy and supporting "the man" on this one.
You guys are living in very scary times right now: illegal wiretaps, perpetual warfare, a criminal executive branch passing no-bid military contracts to stakeholders in the very same government... And it's a well observed phenomenon that journalism is under fire in the US.
What he did was certainly not in his own best interest, for sure. But I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss his patriotism. He is making the tough calls at a time many journalists are asleep at the wheel.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
If this were a state supoena investigating the attack on a police officer, I would agree that he should have showed up. If it were a genuine investigation of an inury offense, it would be carried out by state law enforcement and involve a state grand jury. The fact that it's a federal investigation by a terrorism task force investigating a civil demonstration - that is frightening. Eevn more frightening considering the stretch the government used to call it federal.
What he is fighting for is to change exactly the sort of mentality people have that says when the government comes calling, the automatic answer is to give them what they want.
I thank God daily that I am not American. Please understand, I don't intend to bash Americans, but I am scared to death of the police state that is forming. Gitmo makes the Japanese internment camps of WWII look like quilting bees. It frightens me so much that I'd even move out of Canada just to get further away from that, except for people like Josh Wolf. He's being asked for the wrong information by the wrong authorities and he's standing up and saying no, this isn't right. People like him are the only thing that gives me any hope that maybe Canada can win the fight to keep this from spreading North.
"Last I checked, unemployment was at record lows."
1. Bush changed the rules for counting the unemployed. 2. Many people are either limited to part-time, or have had to settle for a "job" at Walmart, or both.
"Gasoline is nearly back to $2 a gallon."
Still a bunch higher than when Bush took office. Big surprise that an oilman in the oval office led to higher prices.
"Home ownership is among the highest (possibly THE highest) in the entire world."
Yeah, and too many people are upside-down on their mortgages. Get ready for the next S&L bailout.
"Americans can go to school, work hard, become successful, more readily than anywhere else in the world."
That was true once. I don't believe it any more.
"My god people...what the fuck do you want?"
Government accountability, to the people, not to the corporation. The bastards in Washington are destroying this country.
"These people don't want everyone to be happy...they want everyone to be equally miserable. Worthless turds."
Either you've been duped and you don't even know it or, more likely, you're just an anonymous troll.
our courts are for investigating innocence and guilt in committed crimes . . . not for finding out if a crime was committed in the first place.
Of course they are. A primary function of the courts is to interpret the law. In other words, the law says X, the person did A as established by the evidence at hand, does A actually fit X or not? Since laws are written in human language they are ambiguous and it's the job of the courts to figure out if the actual situation fits the law or not.
A grand jury, part of the court system, exists solely to gather evidence and determine if it was likely that a crime was committed.
You seem to be under the impression that in a trial the facts of the crime are fixed and the only question is the identity of the criminal. This is not how the system actually works.