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Indybay Feature

Free at Last!! -- Josh Wolf's First Public Statement

by Josh Wolf via Beyond Chron
On April 3rd, Josh Wolf was released from prison. Josh became the longest incarcerated journalist in U.S. history -- for refusing to turn in his videotape to a federal grand jury. His case is Exhibit A of why we need a federal shield law -- to allow journalist to protect their sources free of harassment. The following was his public statement upon being released.
In his dissenting opinion in the case of US v.Coldwell (1972), Justice William O. Douglas wrote these prescient words which are not only significant to my case -- but also reflect the greater state of affairs in the United States today: “As the years pass, the power of government becomes more and more pervasive. It is a power to suffocate both people and causes. Those in power, whatever their politics, want only to perpetuate it. Now that the fences of the law and the tradition that protected the press are broken down, the people are the victims. The First Amendment, as I read it, was designed precisely to prevent that tragedy.”

Contrary to popular opinion, this legal entanglement which has held me in Federal Prision for the past eight months, has never been about a videotape nor is the investigation about the alleged attempted arson of a San Francisco police vehicle as the government claims. While it is true that I was held in custody for refusing to surrender the tape and that the justification for making a federal case out of this was the police car, things are not always as they appear. The reality is that this investigation is far more pervasive and perverse than a superficial examination will reveal.

When I was subpoenaed in February of last year, I was not only ordered to provide my unedited footage, but to also submit to testimony and examination before the secretive grand jury. Although I feel that my unpublished material should be shielded from government demands, it was the testimony which I found to be the more egregious assault on my right and ethics as both a journalist and a citizen.

As there was nothing of a sensitive or confidential nature on my video outtakes, I had no reason to withhold their publication once I had exhausted all my legal appeals. When that point arrived I had already spent three months behind bars. I was advised by my legal team that publishing the video would not lead to my release; instead it would indicate to the court that my imprisonment was having a coercive effect even though it was not.

This hypothesis was verified when one of my attorneys inquired whether the Assistant US Attorney would accept the footage in lieu of my testimony, he was told that the video alone would not suffice and that the US Attorney would accept nothing less than my full compliance with the demands of the subpoena. Things change.

When the judge came to realize the support for my cause was growing and that I was unlikely to waver anytime soon, he ordered both parties to meet with a magistrate judge in the hopes we could reach a solution amenable to everyone. After two rather strenuous sessions of mediation, we at last came to an agreement that not only leaves my ethics intact but actively serves the role of a free press in our so-called free socieity.

In the words of Justice Douglas, “The press has a preferred position in our constitutional scheme, not to enable it to make money, not to set newsmen apart as a favored class, but to bring fulfillment to the public’s right to know”.

http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4374#more
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by not beyond chron
see

April 3rd, 2007
My First Public Statement as a Free Wolf (Delivered at 5:00PM in front of SF City Hall)
by Josh Wolf
They didn't really need to, but Beyond Chron called me about reposting this on their site, and I appreciate them, in turn, reposting it to indybay...

No foul here.
I repost stuff from a bunch of sites most mornings. Usually I just repost the first paragraphs and a link so people dont complain about copywrite and the posts still give the originating site traffic. In this case I reposted the whole thing since I didnt think anyone would mind. I havent talked to anyone at Beyond Chron mainly because I repost from about 20 sites every morning and dont have enough free time to coordinate. It would be great if they reposted themselves or Indybay could somehow syndicate from sites like Beyond Chron since it would reduce the time it takes me to repost every day. I think is valuable to have a portal site like indybay that pulls content in from other alternative local sources since it increases the number of people who know about local activist issues.I know the idea is that open publishing means people publishing their own stuff but its often hard to get people to do that if they have their own blogs or sites and dont have time to post to all related Indymedias and other news outlets that could benefit by their content.

Anyways, hope that clears things up if anyone was confused by the comments above.
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