Josh Wolf (journalist)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joshua Selassie "Josh" Wolf (born June 8, 1982) is an American freelance journalist and internet videoblogger who was jailed by a
Federal district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
on August 1, 2006, for refusing to turn over a collection of
videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. V ...
s he recorded during a July 2005 demonstration in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Wolf served 226 days in prison at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, California, longer than any other journalist in U.S. history has served for protecting source materials. After Wolf released his video outtakes to the public, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered his release on April 3, 2007.Egelko, Bob
"Imprisoned freelance journalist to be released"
, ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'', April, 3.
In 2007, Wolf ran for
mayor of San Francisco The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the Government of San Francisco, San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either appro ...
against incumbent
Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...
(finishing in 8th place with about 1 percent of the vote). The next year Wolf accepted a position at the '' Palo Alto Daily Post'' where he reported on the
San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City, California, Redwood City is th ...
government and that of several cities within the county.


Early life and education

Wolf was born in Santa Rosa, California. His parents, Len Harrison and Liz Wolf, divorced when he was a young child; he grew up in
Wrightwood, California Wrightwood is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County, California. It sits at an elevation of . The population was 4,720 at the 2020 census, up from 4,525 at the 2010 census. Wrightwood is located northeast of Los Angeles. It is ...
with his mother, an elementary school teacher. Wolf's middle name, Selassie, is in honor of Ethiopian Emperor
Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
. His mother was born into a Jewish family, and converted to Christianity, becoming a Messianic Jew and raising Wolf a Christian. Wolf attended Wrightwood Elementary School in
Wrightwood, California Wrightwood is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County, California. It sits at an elevation of . The population was 4,720 at the 2020 census, up from 4,525 at the 2010 census. Wrightwood is located northeast of Los Angeles. It is ...
and Pinon Mesa Middle School in Phelan, California. He graduated from Serrano High School in Phelan, California in 2000. Wolf received a bachelor's degree from
San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...
in 2006, and finished a master's degree at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism in 2011. His thesis film ''Police Tape'' received the Reva and David Logan Prize for Excellence in Investigative Reporting.


Career


The video

Wolf, a video blogger who reported on numerous protest and progressive events, videotaped an anti- G8
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
protest in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
on July 8, 2005 in which some of the protesters wore masks and vandalized property. Later that same night, and over the next few days, Wolf edited his footage and posted the video to a local activist news website, Bay Area Indymedia, or Indybay. Wolf also sold the video to the television broadcast station KRON the day after the protest. In the process of documenting protest actions, Wolf had recorded a tense scene of a protester being choked by a police officer and another officer threatening passersby with stun guns. The only other recording that was broadcast nearly as much was a still photograph of a bloody police officer who was injured during the protest, not taken by Wolf. Other activists who posted video and photographs to the Bay Area Indymedia website were contacted by the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
seeking their original source materials, but it is unknown how many, if any, turned over their recordings to Federal authorities. Wolf's videotape is the only known source material from the protest to have been sought by subpoena after refusal to turn it over. On April 3, 2007, Wolf posted the unpublished footage on his blog after being assured that he would not have to testify about the footage.


Subpoena and arrest

The US District Court empaneled a
grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...
to determine whether
arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
charges should be brought against some of the protesters on the suspicion that they may have intended to damage a police car by firing a bottle rocket under it, even though the only official damage reported was a broken tail light. The premise for Federal intervention in a case involving a city police car was that the car was funded in part by Federal dollars. Josh Wolf did not shoot any footage of the car incident. But because he shot other video footage elsewhere during the protest, and the identities of some of the protesters were allegedly known to him, Wolf was targeted by Federal officials. Wolf was
subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...
ed by the court, requiring him to turn over his footage and submit to testifying before the grand jury. Specifically, the FBI subpoenaed him to provide "all documents, writings also and recordings related to protest activities conducted in San Francisco" between 6:30 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on July 8 as well any cameras, recording devices, and his computer. Wolf refused to comply with the subpoena. His case was picked up by the National Lawyers Guild who asked a federal magistrate in San Francisco to block the grand jury subpoena, arguing that taking such action would have a
chilling effect In a legal context, a chilling effect is the inhibition or discouragement of the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights by the threat of legal sanction. A chilling effect may be caused by legal actions such as the passing of a law, th ...
on other journalists covering future protests. U.S. District Judge William Alsup rejected this argument and ordered Wolf be jailed on August 1, 2006 for
contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...
until he complied. A federal appeals court granted him bail on August 31, 2006 and he was released on September 1, although Wolf again refused to comply with the district court order that he produce the videotape. On September 18, 2006 his bail was revoked and Wolf returned to prison on September 22, 2006. The entire
en banc In law, an ''en banc'' (; alternatively ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank''; ) session is when all the judges of a court sit to hear a case, not just one judge or a smaller panel of judges. For courts like the United States Courts of Appeal ...
Court of Appeals refused Wolf's subsequent appeals. February 7, 2007 marked the 169th day of Wolf's imprisonment, surpassing the time served by Vanessa Leggett, a
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
-based freelancer who was imprisoned for 168 days in 2001 and 2002 for declining to reveal unpublished material about a murder case. Wolf remained in jail for a total of 226 days, the longest time a U.S. journalist has been held in contempt for refusing to divulge sources or unpublished material.


Release

On April 3, 2007, according to Wolf's lawyer David Greene, prosecutors dropped their insistence that Wolf testify before a grand jury after he posted the unaired video online. With permission from the prosecution, U.S. District Judge William Alsup signed an order requiring Wolf's release from the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California.


Central legal issues

There were a number of important legal issues at dispute in this case, including: * whether journalists can refuse to comply with
grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...
subpoenas, and under what circumstances * whether Wolf meets the legal definition of a journalist and is entitled to those protections * whether the Federal government has
standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an upright (orthostatic) position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the ...
in this case Wolf argued that
first amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
protections allow journalists to refuse to comply when a grand jury is not conducted in good faith. Specifically, Wolf believes that the government wants his video tapes to help them identify people who were participating in the protests, not for actual footage of a crime that was committed. He has also argued that the federal prosecutor's claim for standing is tenuous (based on the fact that federal funds helped to pay for a police car that was damaged), and that the case was brought before a federal grand jury in order to avoid California's
shield law A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...
s. There is no Federal Shield Law at this time. The Federal prosecutor argued that Wolf does not meet the statutory definition of a journalist (under California law) or a common law journalist's privilege based on the
Federal Rules of Evidence First adopted in 1975, the Federal Rules of Evidence codify the evidence law that applies in United States federal courts. In addition, many states in the United States have either adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence, with or without local v ...
. Further, they argued that even if he did, the protections afforded to journalists would not cover his activities in this case because he merely observed the incidents he recorded in a public place. He did not prompt them, nor did he offer anyone anonymity or confidentiality. District Court Judge Alsup refused to address any of these issues in his written ruling. He simply signed an order written by the Federal prosecutor that ordered Wolf be jailed because it had been established that he was not complying with a grand jury subpoena. In their written ruling, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...
ruled against Wolf on all three issues.


Responses

Questions of Wolf's legitimacy as a journalist have been answered by support from various journalist groups. For example, on August 23, 2006 (22 days ''after'' Wolf was incarcerated), The
Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...
awarded him their Journalist of the Year "for upholding the principles of a free and independent press." The SPJ described Wolf as "...a California blogger and freelance journalist..." Josh Wolf was the only journalist jailed for his professional activities in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 2006, according to
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
(this organization is a member of
International Freedom of Expression Exchange IFEX, formerly International Freedom of Expression Exchange, is a global network of more than 119 independent non-governmental organisations that work at a local, national, regional, or international level to defend and promote freedom of expre ...
). Support in the journalistic community is not uniform, however. On February 28, 2007, syndicated columnist
Debra Saunders Debra J. Saunders is the Washington columnist for the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''. She returned to the ''Review-Journal'' in January 2024 after serving as the newspaper's White House correspondent during former president Donald J. Trump's term a ...
attacked the credibility of Wolf's arguments, namely the lack of an expectation of privacy of those he was filming. In a televised interview on February 9, 2007, Wolf and his attorney,
Martin Garbus Martin Garbus (born August 8, 1934) is an American attorney. Education Garbus graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1951, earned his B.A. from Hunter College in 1955, and received his J.D. from NYU School of Law. While studying, h ...
, responded to the question of the legitimacy of federal involvement, by claiming that the legal efforts against Wolf were part of a broader attempt by the government to learn the identity of people within the video who are critical of the Bush administration and to suppress American journalism at large. Wolf stated during his portion of the interview via phone from prison that he has offered to allow the judge to review "
in camera ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...
" the raw footage to determine if there's any applicable evidence within the video and the U.S. Attorney's office refused the offer based on a legal technicality. Wolf also said that the raw video does not offer any more applicable evidence of the arson or assault charges. The U.S. Attorney's office declined to participate in the interview but a spokesperson sent a statement saying they were obligated to gather evidence and that six separate judges have "... ruled that this office has issued a lawful subpoena for legitimate investigative purposes ...". The Rise Up Network Legal Fund held a benefit to help free Josh Wolf and the media in general on September 21, 2006. Featured speakers included
Ross Mirkarimi Rostam Mirkarimi (born 1961) is an American politician and the former sheriff of San Francisco. Prior to being sheriff, he served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he represented District 5. Mirkarimi is a co-founder of the Gre ...
,
Chris Daly Christopher Edward Daly (born August 13, 1972) is a former San Francisco Board of Supervisors member He represented District 6, serving from 2001 to 2011. He now lives in Fairfield, California,Huett, Ellen (March 24, 2014"How tech became the e ...
, and
Judith Miller Judith Miller (born January 2, 1948) is an American journalist and commentator who is known for writing about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, but her writings were later discov ...
. After Josh Wolf took a job as a general assignment reporter at the Palo Alto Daily Post in 2008, he had some choice words for critics who have questioned his claim of being a journalist. "If the haters who said I wasn't a real journalist, are still lurking," Wolf wrote on his blog, "I hope you don't have too much indigestion after eating your words.'


Candidacy for mayor

On July 4, 2007, Wolf announced his candidacy for the office of Mayor of San Francisco, against incumbent
Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...
. Promising an "open and transparent government", Wolf stated he would wear a video camera everywhere he does his mayoral business. His platform also discussed homelessness, crime, transportation, public works, gay marriage, medical marijuana and other issues. Wolf finished in 8th place with 1.24% of votes cast.


See also

*
Greg Anderson (trainer) Greg F. Anderson (born February 1966) is an American personal trainer, best known for his work with baseball player Barry Bonds, and links with BALCO. Biography Early life When Anderson was 10 years old, his father died after being shot during a ...
*
Judith Miller (journalist) Judith Miller (born January 2, 1948) is an American journalist and commentator who is known for writing about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, but her writings were later discov ...


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Josh Wolf's Video Blog

July 8, 2005 Protest News Coverage
an
Josh Wolf News
from ''Bay Area Indymedia'' ('' Indybay''). * January 14, 2007 — Wolf's mother, Liz Wolf-Spada
is interviewed
following the National Conference for Media Reform convention in Memphis, Tenn. * March 23, 2007 &mdash
Josh Wolf Interviewed from Jail by The Common Language Project

Josh Wolf Interviewed from Jail by Democracy Now!


* ttp://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/16061862.htm "Blogger seeks release as imprisonment enters third month" AP story, in ''
San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
'', November 20, 2006.
NPR's ''Talk of the Nation'' interview, April 9, 2007

Josh is interviewed by RU Sirius about anarchism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Josh American documentary filmmakers American male journalists Journalists from California Journalists imprisoned for refusing to reveal sources 1982 births Living people American anarchists Writers from Santa Rosa, California American video bloggers San Francisco State University alumni UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism alumni People from Wrightwood, California American male bloggers 21st-century anarchists