Freelancer doesn't want mainstream job

Josh Wolf has one thing in common with Judith Miller, the last journalist jailed by a federal judge: Both of them refused to disclose confidential material sought by grand juries.

Apart from that, Wolf, the 24-year-old San Francisco freelance journalist who was held in contempt of court Tuesday, comes from a different world from Miller, the former New York Times national security reporter who spent 85 days in federal prison last year until she agreed to reveal who told her a Bush administration critic's wife was a CIA agent.

"I'm not (interested) in making it in the world of mainstream media so much as making it as an independent journalist,'' Wolf said in an interview last month. "I see myself continuing to report on the world around me. ... I have reservations in the way journalism is approached.''

While his Web site includes personal videos, Wolf said, "a good portion of my work focuses on political dissent. That's what I've established as a beat.''

Before his confrontation Tuesday with U.S. District Judge William Alsup, Wolf spent part of his time as a self-employed video journalist, displaying his footage on a Web site and distributing some of it to other online sites and documentary-makers. He said he started shortly after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, first on local public-access cable and then as a blogger.

Last year, one of his videos -- of a protest July 8, 2005, by anarchists in San Francisco's Mission District -- wound up on local television without his knowledge, although he later arranged to be paid, Wolf said. He was jailed Tuesday for refusing to provide a federal grand jury with outtakes of the videos, which prosecutors said might show the attempted arson of a police car.

He's covering up for his anarchist, rioting buddies. He's an accomplice, send him to jail!

You know that if he had video of 4 republicans plotting to break into a Democrat election headquarters, he would turn over everything in a minute.

2 posted on 08/02/2006 10:50:52 AM PDT by Paloma_55 (I may be a hateful bigot, but I still love you)

I see a great difference between a nominal criminal investigation and national security issues. This is a nominal criminal investigation, it is demanding non-broadcast materials. The prosecutor should attempt to negotiate a price for the material and keep it out of the courts. The shield laws in California should apply.

3 posted on 08/02/2006 10:53:58 AM PDT by kingu (Yeah, I'll vote in 2006, just as soon as a party comes along who listens.)

This twit will learn the basic rubric of the American legal industry--Crime does not pay--at his level.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.