from joshwolf.net
Great news for anyone who cares about journalistic freedom: 24-year old journalist/videoblogger Josh Wolf will be freed — finally — after finally turning over a contested videotape to a judge. Wolf has been in custody for nearly 7 1/2 months after refusing to turn over raw footage shot at a protest in San Francisco in July 2005 and testify about its contents. Wolf was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors investigating charges of vandalism at the event. He was sentenced and imprisoned in August, was released on bail in September, and then was sent back to jail when his bail was revoked by a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court. A hearing by the full court was denied, as was a motion to reinstate bail. Wolf now stands as the longest-imprisoned journalist in American history and, prior to the agreement to hand over the footage — which Wolf has already offered to the court in part, offered to describe, has been posted in part on his website and may not, in fact, contain anything of evidentiary value — was set to spend the remainder of the grand jury term in jail until its expiration in July. There had been no charges laid in connection with the events under investigation.
Update: Wolf has posted the disputed video on his blog, "The Revolution Will Be Televised. Here's his statement:
During the course of this saga I have repeatedly offered to allow a judge to be the arbiter over whether or not my video material has any evidentiary value. Today, you the public have the opportunity to be the judge and I am confident you will see, as I do, that there is nothing of value in this unpublished footage.
Watch it and judge for yourself here.
Freelancer Josh Wolf to Be Freed After Turning Tape Over to Judge [Wired News]
Related on ETP:
Josh Wolf: Pioneering Journalist And Symptom Of Something Very, Very Wrong
Imprisoned Vid-Blogger Josh Wolf Denied Request For Hearing, Bail
Josh Wolf: Journalist? Not A Journalist? Does It Matter?
