Bloggers Should Have Rights as Journalists?

Filed in archive Latin Chat on February 8, 2007

This is not a Latino issue, but I want to tell you about it anyway.

Do you think a blogger should go to jail because the government says he "isn't a journalist", and therefore doesn't have the right to withhold information?

Blogger Josh Wolf has refused to give to the authorities a video he made, in a public place. He's in jail.

"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 the judge declined."

I'm not sure he deserves to be in prison because of this. But the situation seems complicated to me. First of all, he broke the law. Second, if somebody was hurt, shouldn't he help? If the victim were a civilian, would he have given the tape to the Police?

In the other hand, why the judge declined? Wouldn't it be a way of clarifying this issue? Looks to me like "If you (Josh) don't do as you're told, you'll see!". In other words, they don't just want to see the tape, they want Josh to give it up. They don't want to loose. Power, uh?

I've found out about Josh in Vivir Latino: SF Blogger Becomes Longest Held Journalist. They have more information, and some links where you can help him, if you like.

Read it, think about it. Who's right, Josh or the Government? What would happen if all bloggers were granted the journalist's right to withhold information? What would you do if you had to face Josh's dilemma? What would you thought, if the hurt Policeman was your brother or your friend?