Wolf sets U.S. record for jailed journalists

San Francisco photographer and blogger Josh Wolf (right), who is refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena for his testimony and video outtakes of a political protest, has spent 169 days in a federal prison in an East Bay federal prison as of today (Feb. 6). He has now spent more time behind bars than author Vanessa Leggett, who was jailed for 168 days in a Texas federal prison for refusing to comply with a subpoena in 2001. As this morning's New York Times notes, Wolf remains behind bars even as the United States attorney who had him held, Kevin Ryan, has said he is stepping down and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has dismissed the lone remaining criminal case involving the protest. Wolf could stay jailed until the term of the grand jury ends in July. The longest-held journalist is former Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson (left), who was abducted on a west Beirut street on March 16, 1985 by pro-Iranian Shiite Muslims, and held 2,454 days before being released Dec. 4, 1991.

Josh Wolf Benefit tonight
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m.
House of Shields
39 Montgomery St., San Francisco
Benefit performers The Greening,
Troublemakers Union, GAVIOTAS

News coverage and press releases:
• release from the Free Josh Wolf Coalition
• release from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Center for Media and Democracy: Call for Freeing Josh Wolf
• Release from Reporters Without Borders
• Indymedia: "Don't bother looking for Josh Wolf on the evening news
• NBC11: Journalist Josh Wolf Longest Held in History
• Chronicle: Blogger jailed for defying grand jury
• New York Times: Jail Record Near for Videographer Who Resisted Grand Jury
• AP: Bay Area videographer becomes longest held journalist

Chronicle: Josh Wolf is a real journalist

[Full disclosure: The Press Club's webmaster is Dave Price, an owner of the Daily Post.]

When he went to prison for refusing to give law enforcement a videotape he made of a San Francisco political protest, journalists debated whether Josh Wolf was really a journalist.

While Wolf was sitting in a federal prison, the Chronicle appeared to be more concerned about the fate of two of its reporters who might have to go to jail for refusing to say who gave them a grand jury transcript in the Barry Bonds case. It turned out that they never spent a day in jail. But Wolf, now 26, spent 226 days behind bars at a federal prison.

The mainstream media mostly ignored Josh Wolf. Some argued that since he had professed anarchist political beliefs, he couldn't fairly report on a protest that included anarchists. When the Press Club began counting up the days Wolf was spending behind bars, it received e-mails from journalists criticizing that decision.

But Wolf's views didn't stop KRON4 and KTVU Channel 2 from paying him for portions of his video.

Now that he's out of prison and has landed a job at the Palo Alto Daily Post, the Chronicle has decided Wolf is a journalist. Here are a few paragraphs from the story:

The case helped fuel the debate over the definition of what constitutes journalism — in an age of blog posts and video uploads by noncredentialed amateurs - and who is entitled to press protections, specifically journalists' ability to maintain the confidentiality of an unnamed source or unpublished material. For now, Wolf said the debate concerning his professional status can be put to rest.

"I felt like it was an irrelevant argument before," Wolf said. "But it feels like it's much harder for them to make their point now that it's how I earn my paycheck."

The shift from only a blogger to a just-the-facts reporter at a 16,500-circulation newspaper may seem counterintuitive at a time when newspapers and their staffs are shrinking.

Yet Wolf enjoys the lot of a small-town cub reporter at a traditional local newspaper, which doesn't even maintain a Web site. At the Palo Alto Daily Post, he files 10 to 15 stories a week written in standard newspaper style, devoid of personal analysis, and most of his stories are only a few hundred words long and fail to include what Wolf calls the "significant nuances" of his reporting.

"I could write 10,000 words on some stories," Wolf said. "But I think it's understood you're trying to get the facts of the story a reader can easily understand, and no story is free of minute details that are also important." ...

(Photo credit: (Kim Komenich, The Chronicle

Free Josh Wolf event on Dec. 7

Journalists, political activists and elected officials are scheduled to appear at an event on Dec. 7 to call for the release of Josh Wolf, the blogger and freelance news photographer who has been jailed because he refuses to provide a videotape he shot of a political protest to federal prosecutors. Speakers at this event will include Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, San Francisco Supervisors Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi and SF Bay Guardian Publisher Bruce Brugmann. An independent filmmaker, Kevin Epps, will screen a short documentary about Wolf. The event takes place Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Balazo Gallery, 2183 Mission Street at 18th Street, San Francisco. Sponsors are SF Bay Guardian, The Free Josh Wolf Coalition, League of Young Voters, Reporters Without Borders and Youth Radio. A $10 donation is requested.

Recent stories about Wolf include:

• Journalists should take Wolf case seriously, by Contra Costa Times investigative reporter Thomas Peele, Nov. 26

• Wolf's request for a Thanksgiving furlough is denied, Nov. 21

• Wolf case is symptomatic of a disturbing trend, by San Francisco freelance jornalist Richard Knee, Nov. 21

• Wolf case stirs debate over who is a journalist, David Kravets, Associated Press, Nov. 20

• Wolf's response to professors who questioned whether he was a journalist, Nov. 7

• Wolf profiled by NPR, Oct. 25

Judge in Josh Wolf case: Let's settle this

Maybe it has something to do with last month's resignation of Kevin Ryan, the federal prosecutor for San Francisco. But in the same week that the feds cut loose two Chronicle reporters who wouldn't reveal their source of a grand jury transcript, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered his magistrate to broker a deal with imprisoned journalist Josh Wolf "in the interest of reaching a resolution satisfactory to both sides.''

Of course, "satisfactory" to Wolf would be freedom.

Nobody will say who told Alsup to let Wolf go. But it doesn't seem as if the defense -- which hasn't convinced the judge to do anything so far -- could have set this chain of events in motion.

Anyway, stay tuned for the details in the Wolf case. In the meantime, watch this new video which offers some pictures (one posted here) of the anarchist protest that Ryan so desperately wanted to see. Listen to the video to hear what the cop with the gun was saying to the political protesters.

The news starts now:

• CNET News: Wolf case assigned to mediator

• Bay City News (via FogCityJournal.com): Wolf attorney hopeful of mediation resolution

• USA Today's profile of Kevin Ryan, which notes that a change in the Patriot Act II lets the administration fire federal prosecutors and replace them with attorneys without Senate confirmation. (Above, Ryan relaxes in his SF home. Photo for USA Today by Martin E. Kimek.)

• Indy Media's comment on Wolf

BTW, the lyrics to the song by Ralph Buckley are: "What would you do if they asked you to rat on your friends? Do you think the means will justify your ends? 'Cause now the revolution is televised before your eyes. Free Josh Wolf."

SPJ gives $30K to Josh Wolf defense fund

The AP reports that the Society of Professional Journalists has donated $30,000 to help pay the legal fees of Josh Wolf, the freelance photographer who was jailed for refusing to give a federal grand jury outtakes of a video he shot of an anarchist protest in San Francisco where a police car was torched and an SFPD officer was injured. Wolf sold some of the video to San Francisco TV stations, but he suspects the grand jury wants the tape to identify people at the protest. Initially news organizations were reluctant to publicize Wolf's case, much less contribute money to his defense fund. SPJ's donation is a signal that the mainstream media has jumped in on Wolf's behalf. Wolf has been held since Aug. 1 in a federal detention center in the East Bay city of Dublin. [PPC, July 27: SF Supes expected to back journalist facing jail] [PPC, Aug. 11: Jailed photographer gives interview] [PPC, Aug. 7: Support sought for jailed photographer] [PPC, Aug. 21: Josh Wolf defense fund collects $1,200]

Josh Wolf in trouble again

Josh Wolf, who served 226 days in prison for refusing to give federal authorities out-takes from the video of a San Francisco protest he shot, is now a journalism student at UC-Berkeley — and he's in trouble again, the NY Times reports.

Wolf was arrested in November inside Wheeler Hall, which had been occupied and barricaded by students protesting tuition hikes. Now he's facing a seven-month academic suspension (and a 10-page essay).

But Wolf says he entered the building as a member of the press, and the video he shot was later used by Democracy Now!

"... the situation poses interesting questions for the educators teaching Mr. Wolf’s very craft. The Berkeley school is one of the nation’s finest and a pride for the broader university; a central tenet of its philosophy is teaching through real-world practice through its array of school publications and partnerships with professional organizations. 

In this instance, as Mr. Wolf’s footage from inside Wheeler Hall held undoubted news value, does the school give him a wink and a smile even if he broke the rules? 

Mr. Wolf claims to have “the support” of journalism faculty.

Robert Gunnison, the director of school affairs for the journalism school, told the Times that Wolf's status as a member of the press may be irrelevant, arguing that shield laws do not protect reporters when police issue dispersal orders, which is effectively the threat of a trespassing charge.

Wolf has several more days to decide whether to accept the suspension or take his case to a hearing panel consisting of two faculty, two students and one university staff member.

Josh Wolf mugged in San Francisco

Josh Wolf, who was jailed a record 226 days for protecting source materials, reports that he has now been mugged in San Francisco by an inmate he met in prison.

Wolf printed an account of his Feb. 4 mugging in the Palo Alto Daily Post, where he works as a reporter.

Wolf identified his attacker at Terrell Trammell, 28, who he met at the Dublin Federal Detention Center three years earlier. Wolf said he didn’t know why Trammell decided to mug him.

After work one evening, Wolf said he ran into Trammell at Volare’s Pizza at 456 Haight St., struck up a conversation and then left.

As I walked home with a box of pizza in one hand and two sodas in the other, I heard Trammell call from across the street, “Got a light?”

I awkwardly fished out a lighter from my pocket as he crossed the street. But when I went to hand it to him, I was greeted with a punch to the face. The pizza went flying.

I lost my glasses and called out for help, as a quick series of jabs to the face continued. But my cries were only greeted by a friend of his I had first seen at the pizza place coming to his aid. I fell to the ground asking, “What do you want?” as I began to wonder if this was a robbery or simply a beating. The punches became kicks. I shielded my face.

“Let’s go,” said the friend as the kicks continued.

Trammell then grabs me by the jacket and reaches into my inner pocket, where he had likely seen me put my iPhone after I got a call at the pizza place. He grabs my left pocket, where my car and house keys are kept. He tears the pocket, but runs away with his friend before he can grab the keys.

Blood squirting from my nose, heart pounding, I lie on the ground for a moment, collecting myself as I watch the feet of my two assailants dart away.

Wolf reports that Trammell is now in jail on robbery charges. He is not eligible for bail because he is on federal probation.

Wolf was sent to prison in 2006 by federal Judge William Alsup after he refused to testify before a federal grand jury about the identities and activities of protesters he had covered for his video blog, and for refusing to surrender his video outtakes. He was held in contempt of court for 226 days and was released after posting the video to his Web site.

[Full disclosure: The Press Club's webmaster is Dave Price, an owner of the Daily Post.]

Josh Wolf not out of the woods

Josh Wolf (pictured), the freelance photographer and blogger who spent August in a federal prison for refusing to provide authorities with outtakes of a video he shot of a San Francisco anarchist protest, could be returning to jail if his appeal is unsuccessful, the The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press warns. Although a two-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco released Wolf on bail, another panel of judges will hear his appeal of a contempt order. If his appeal is unsuccessful, he could be sent back to prison until July 2007, when the term of the grand jury in the underlying case is set to expire, the committee reports. "Independent journalists and bloggers provide a valuable service," Dan Siegel, one of Wolf's attorneys, told the committee. "People like [Wolf] have access to many stories that mainstream journalists do not. If they aren't protected, the public will be denied access to that information." [PPC, Sept. 1: Wolf released from prison] [PPC, Aug. 31: Court rules Wolf can be released] [PPC, Aug. 31: Guardian explores feds motives in jailing Wolf]

Mediation fails to free Josh Wolf

Court-ordered mediation in the case of jailed journalist Josh Wolf (left) has failed, Bay City News reports. U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero said in a brief order in the case of Josh Wolf, "A settlement conference was held; the case did not settle." The mediation was ordered last month by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, the judge who found Wolf in contempt for refusing to surrender a videotape of an anarchist protest he shot during which a San Francisco police officer was assaulted and a police car torched. Alsup wrote that he ordered the procedure "in the interest of reaching a resolution satisfactory to both sides." Wolf sold portions of the video to KRON and KTVU, but has refused to release the entire tape to prosecutors, saying it would make him a spy for the government.

Wash. Post's Kurtz discusses Josh Wolf

Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz, in today's edition, discusses whether imprisoned blogger and photographer Josh Wolf is a journalist. Wolf, 24, is serving his 199th day in prison today for refusing to turn over a video he shot of anarchist protesters.

"Wolf's rationale for withholding the video, and refusing to testify, is less than crystal clear," Kurtz writes. "There are no confidential sources involved in the case. He sold part of the tape to local television stations and posted another portion on his blog. Why, then, is he willing to give up his freedom over the remaining footage?"

Kurtz quotes a UCLA law professor as saying that when something is taped in a public place -- and that's what Wolf did -- "it's hard to see even an implied agreement of confidentiality."

Kurtz also quotes a court filing by U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan who says Wolf's resistance "is apparently fueled by his anointment as a journalistic martyr" and that he needs "to come to grips with the fact that he was simply a person with a video camera who happened to record some public events."

But Wolf's mother tells Kurtz that she thinks prosecutors want her son to "testify so they can develop a list of who protests in San Francisco."

Journalist Josh Wolf released from prison

Josh Wolf (pictured), the freelance journalist who was jailed for refusing to give a federal grand jury outtakes of a video he shot of a political protest, walked out of a federal prison in the East Bay city of Dublin this morning (Sept. 1), KCBS-AM reports. A federal grand jury is investigating a 2005 San Francisco protest where a police car was torched and a SFPD officer was injured. The grand jury asked Wolf for video that was not aired on local newscasts and he refused, saying journalists have a right to keep confidential information they receive but decide not to use. Wolf said he suspects prosecutors want him to identify anarchists at the protest. Wolf is free on appeal. Two federal appeals court judges issued a brief ruling Thursday night saying he could be released while his appeal is considered. [AP version] [Bay City News: Wolf says it's great to be free again; judges who will hear appeal are named] [Chron: Wolf gets call in prison from Judith Miller]

Judge jails freelance TV photographer

A federal judge today (Aug. 1) sent a freelance TV news photographer to jail for refusing to surrender a video he shot of anarchist protesters attacking a San Francisco police officer. As a federal marshal led Josh Wolf (pictured), 24, out of the San Francisco courtroom, journalists appeared shocked and Wolf’s mother cried.

“I don’t think he should go to jail defending the freedom of the press,” said Liz Wolf-Spada afterward.

Wolf's lawyer, Jose Fuentes, said outside of court that he will immediately file an already-prepared notice of appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of. Wolf is not eligible for bail. Wolf could be kept in prison until the grand jury's term expires next July.

The grand jury, along police and federal prosecutors, wanted Wolf’s videotape in order to identify protesters who clashed with police and possibly torched a police car during a June 8, 2005 demonstration in the Mission District. During the protest, which concerned the G8 economic conference in Scotland, officer Peter Shields was struck in the back of the head and seriously injured.

Wolf sold portions of the videotape to local TV stations, which aired it on their newscasts, but authorities want to see the entire tape.

Fuentes argued that the First Amendment allowed his client to withhold the tape. Moreover, California has a Shield Law for journalists which prohibits the government from seizing unpublished reporter notes and news footage. But U.S. District Judge William Alsup concluded that the First Amendment did not apply to Wolf’s case because nobody in the video asked for confidentiality.

“The grand jury is investigating whether or not a crime was committed … [The government has] a very legitimate and direct need of photographs of what happened,” said Alsup.

Wolf, who was found in contempt, will either be sent to Santa Rita Detention Center or federal jail facility in Hayward.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors delayed a vote on a resolution that was intended to offer support to Wolf and give The City’s position on the federal investigation of the anarchist protest. Though a vote was scheduled today, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi asked his colleagues to allow the resolution to detour toward a lower-level committee. Mirkarimi said hearing the resolution at the committee level will "give us a forum to clear up where we stand in terms of state and federal law, as to which has primacy."

Before he went to jail, Wolf set up a Web site that documented his case. The site, http://www.joshwolf.net, features court documents and other articles regarding the case. (Story by Nicole Baldocchi and Bay City News.)

Other reports on this case: [SF Bay Guardian] [SPJ backs Wolf] [National Lawyers Guild supports Wolf] [London Guardian] [KGO-TV] [KCBS] [AP]

Josh Wolf case 'a huge misunderstanding'

Josh Wolf's "jailing looks like a huge misunderstanding, in which prosecutors assumed, incorrectly, that Wolf possessed relevant evidence, while Wolf believed, erroneously, that he had a responsibility to go to jail even if he had no relevant evidence," says Peter Scheer. Scheer (pictured) -- a lawyer, journalist and executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition -- asks in a Chronicle op-ed whether Wolf's imprisonment for 7 1/2 months was necessary.

The Chron also gave space to Wolf, who argued for a federal shield law:

[Chronicle staff writers Mark] Fainaru-Wadu and [Lance] Williams could have just as easily been in my place at FDC Dublin. There are no protections afforded to journalists in the context of a federal grand jury. The debate over who qualifies as a journalist can wait, but we need a federal shield law now.

Josh Wolf's motion for release denied

A judge yesterday denied Josh Wolf's latest bid for freedom, rejecting his lawyer's argument that prison won't cause him to cough up the outtakes of a videotape he shot of an ararchist protest. Wolf, 24, has said he won't comply as a matter of principle with a subpoena from federal prosecutors for the tape no matter how long he is confined -- and his lawyer argued that the time the freelancer is spending in jail is punitive and therefore illegal. But U.S. District Judge William Alsup turned down the motion in a one-paragraph ruling today (Jan. 30), saying that suggestions of compromise by one of Wolf's lawyers reveal "a realistic possibility that Mr. Wolf's confinement may be having its coercive effect," according to Bay City News Service.

As of Jan. 30, Wolf has been imprisoned for 163 days, and it is likely that he will become the longest held journalist in U.S. history. The record for longest a journalist held in prison has been held by Houston reporter Vanessa Leggett who was jailed for 168 days in 2002 for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury and turn over her research materials. In 2005, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released after 85 days in jail for refusing to name her sources in a grand jury investigation.

New motion filed in Josh Wolf case

Attorneys for journalist Josh Wolf have filed a new motion for his release, aruging that since prosecutors now realize he won't cooperate as a matter of principle, continuing to keep him in prison is a form of punishment and he must be released. As of Jan. 24, Wolf has been imprisoned for 157 days, and it is likely that he will become the longest held journalist in U.S. history. As the web site for the liberal group Common Dreams points out, the record for longest a journalist held in prison has been held by Houston reporter Vanessa Legget who was jailed for 168 days in 2002 for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury and turn over her research materials. In 2005, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released after 85 days in jail for refusing to name her sources in a grand jury investigation. Wolf, 23, is refusing to provide outtakes from a video he shot of an anarchist protest in San Francisco. Wolf has wrote in a letter from prison that he thinks prosecutors want the tape in order to identify anarchists at the protest.

• Press Club, Jan. 20: Pelosi backs Chron reporters, silent on Wolf

Josh Wolf ordered to return to jail

Josh Wolf (pictured), a freelance journalist who spent a month in a federal detention center because he refused to provide a federal grand jury with outakes from a video he shot of an anarchist protest, has been ordered to return to jail by a three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The San Francisco-based panel ruled that a 1972 Supreme Court precedent requires everyone, including journalists, to appear before grand juries if they have been summoned. The court wrote: "The Supreme Court has declined to interpret the First Amendment to 'grant newsmen a testimonial privilege that other citizens do not enjoy.'" Wolf, who is depending on donations to fund his legal defense, told the AP through his attorney that he plans to turn himself in at the federal prison in the East Bay city of Dublin before his 1 p.m. Wednesday deadline. Wolf's attorney, Jose Luis Fuentes, said that jailing Wolf won't result in the federal government getting his videotape -- "It's just punishment." [PPC, Sept. 1: Wolf released from prison]

Josh Wolf jailed one month ago today

Exactly one month ago today, freelance journalist Josh Wolf (pictured) was jailed for refusing to give a federal grand jury a videotape he shot of an anarchist demonstration in San Francisco in which a police car was torched and an SFPD officer was injured. Today, the Reporters without Borders organization reiterated its call for Wolf's release. The press freedom organization also urged the federal courts in San Francisco not to jail Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada of the Chronicle for refusing to identify who gave them federal grand jury transcripts detailing the case against Barry Bonds.

The SF Bay Guardian has been investigating the Wolf case and reached the following conclusions:

• SFPD asked the feds to take over the anarchist protest investigation because they feared local District Attorney Kamala Harris wouldn't move fast enough or aggressively enough against those who injured the officer and torched the police car.

• The goal of the feds in jailing Wolf might be to get him to identify anarchists in exchange for his freedom.

• Feds are trying to prove Wolf is not a journalist even though local TV stations paid to use his video on their newscasts.

Blogger Josh Wolf runs for mayor

Josh Wolf (pictured), the blogger and freelance news photographer who went to jail for 7 months for refusing to give law enforcement outtakes of a video he shot of a political protest, plans to run for mayor of San Francisco. If elected, Wolf, 25, said he plans to wear a video camera to broadcast mayoral business to the public. Wolf is one of 24 candidates who hope to defeat Gavin Newsom, who seeks re-election this fall. Wolf surrendered the videotape to authorities April 3 after spending 225 days in jail. Under a deal with prosecutors, he was not required to testify or identify any of the protesters shown in his video. (Photo credit: Jim Schneider, San Francisco Daily)

Debra Saunders: Wolf isn't a journalist

Debra J. Saunders, the Chron's conservative columnist, writes in today's edition that Josh Wolf isn't a journalist but rather a "blogger with an agenda and a camera, who sold a 'selected portion' of the video of the demonstration, which left a San Francisco police officer with a fractured skull, to KRON-TV."

Saunders says, "a camera and a Web site do not a journalist make, any more than shooting a criminal makes a vigilante a cop." She disputes the ACLU's claim that Wolf was "covering" anarchist groups as a journalist -- she points out that on his videoblog he calls himself an "artist, an activist, an ararchist and an archivist."

Saunders also found an angle other media has missed -- the police officer who Wolf purportedly photographed being attacked is gay. Saunders writes:

"What if he were attacked, not because he is a cop, but because he is a gay man? [Officer Peter] Shields, who is gay, said people here would be 'furious.' He added, 'If this chaos happened in the Castro, there would not be this hoopla, if you will, around the Josh Wolf videotape.' But there is no public outrage, he added, 'just because I put on a uniform.'

"Alas, in the Special City, attacking a gay man is a hate crime, while attacking a gay cop can be a cause celebre."

Student journalist sanctioned for covering protest

Josh Wolf

A UC-Berkeley disciplinary panel has concluded that journalism student Josh Wolf should not have been inside Wheeler Hall on Nov. 20, 2009, during an 11-hour student occupation over tuition hikes even though, the panel acknowledged, he was filming the protest as a journalist.

As Nanette Asimov of the Chronicle put it: Guilty verdicts for practicing journalism are the stuff of authoritarian nations and now, apparently, UC Berkeley.

The panel ordered Wolf, who graduates today (May 7) with a master’s degree in journalism, to write a five-page essay to help the administration establish a clear policy on the rights of student journalists.

"I'm more than happy to do anything I can to remedy the situation for future journalists," said Wolf, 28. "But it seems absurd to make it my punishment. (I'm) a consultant without pay under threat of not getting my diploma."

Wolf served seven months in federal prison in 2006 and 2007 after refusing to turn over unedited footage of a demonstration in San Francisco showing the torching of a police car. He eventually posted the footage on the Internet. (Also see coverage by the Daily Cal and Contra Costa Times/BANG.)