SF Blogger longest-incarcerated journalist in modern U.S. history

The Los Angeles Times has reported that 24 year old blogger Josh Wolf, who has been in jail for 171 days, is now the longest incarcerated Journalist in U.S. History. Wolf defied a federal grand jury’s order in July to hand over raw footage of anarchists clashing with police in San Francisco. While he claimed 1st amendment protection, a Judge found him in contempt of court and ordered him to the federal detention facility in Dublin, California. A police officer was injured in the anti-globalization protest that Wolf filmed in July 2005, and outgoing U.S. Atty. Kevin Ryan’s office was investigating whether protesters tried to set fire to a police car. A statement attributed to Wolf recently was posted on his blog: “If the U.S. attorney can compel journalists to testify about what they’ve learned through their work and to force them to turn over their unpublished materials, then not only will the public be unable to trust reporters, but journalists themselves will become de facto deputies and investigators”.