Mr Wolf is a hero. #43 gang are criminals for creating the environment in the country where exposing corruption is considered bad for society. Imagine if this continues what sort of present we will live in.

American journalism has always been a vanguard of the innocent and a threat of exposure to the guilty. Confidentiality of sources must be protected for the good of the people and the detriment of those that have reason to fear exposure of the truth!

We are talking about a Grand Jury here. Remember, the Grand Jury proceedings are secret and there is no "exclusionary rule" to ensure all searches and seizures abide by Amendment IV. The Grand Jury's proceedings are kept secret to prevent bias in the eventual trial (if the Grand Jury hands down an Indictment). The judge is partially correct: the man can be compelled to testify and turn over his video so long as there is no risk to self-incrimination. However, naming his sources is inappropriate and he must have immunity from prosecution under the First Amendment. Imagine if Woodward or Bernstein were jailed in the 1970's for refusing to give up Mark Felt as Deep Throat? As the Supreme Court opined in New York Times v. United States, a free press is immune from any prosecution for anything it prints, so long as that information does not cause immediate damage to life or limb and the information is not libel.

With respect to this article, there are quite a few grammatical and spelling errors. Please correct them.

This isnt about freedom of the press this is about a filthy rotten Leftist media Punk. witholding evidence of a Criminal felony beating of a Law enforcement officer.
ABC and every scumbag in this story is a seditious RAT.

Everyone calls this guy a journalist, but all I can find are articles written about him, not by him. And of course his one video. Some body of work.
And who are these sources he is protecting? What is he protecting them from? Woodward and Bernstein had a source to protect, a source that had inside information about a crime. I have no idea what Josh Wolf is hiding.
Also missing from the article is the little annoying fact that a police officer suffered a fractured skull at the hands of one of the protesters. The FBI is hoping Wolf's video tape may give them a lead on the person who smacked him with a pipe. Perhaps that person is a friend of Josh Wolf, and that is who he is protecting.
That does not fall under the protection of a journalists rights. That would be aiding and abetting after the fact.

quote:

What "source" is being protected here? This kid took the video himself.

Moreover, Josh Wolf is not a journalist. He is a lunatic leftwing blogger.

Wolf posted some home videos about a leftwing riot he attended on his blog site. His footage captured the brutal, near-fatal beating of a policeman. Not just the "vandalizing of a police car" as the article claims.

/quote

You will fool some people into thinking this guy is a hero, but you only lose credibility with the ones that know the truth.

Does ABC even care about the truth?

Get off of it folks. Everybody who does not worship Bush is not committing sedition or treason. You people learned nothing from the last election.

He's one of three bazillion bloggers so who cares. I mean, can anyone nowadays pay a few bucks a month to maintain a blog, publish anything they want, and then claim freedom of the press?

I can understand how we needed to Free Willie, Free Tibet, and Free Mason, but this is taking things to the extreme.

This guy should be jailed for years not a year. What scum bag, films the beating of a cop and then helps his nutcase friends get away with it. DISGUSTING. This isn't about politics left or right. This is about a group of out of control kids attacking a police officer and severly beating him, because he represents authority and he was outnumbered. This punk kid blogger is not a journalist nor a decent human being. ANYONE who can stand by and watch something like this let alone have evidence which can help catch those who commited it, is not worth a damn.

I think its great put more reporters in jail, they are just as much the enemy as Al Qaeda. You cannot pick and choose the laws you want to obey. Most reports are spoiled rich white kids or maybe he could join the ARMY and go to IRAQ.

John Whitaker

This guy is an extreme leftist and anarchist. You would know this he visited his sight. What source is he protecting, himself? He did the filming. He filmed an assault but refuses to come foward because it was law enforcement that got attacked. If it was the other way around he would turn it over in a heart beat or demand that the filmer turn it over.

The guys is a bumb. Give up the film or "book'em Daniel"

With all the lies and failure to report real news instead of the "NEW" journalist idea that they are part of the news, I don't care what happens to him. When the journalist go back to reporting news instead of editting it to promote thier own ideas I will once again support them and thier desire to dig up the truth for all not just against those they harbor some foolish distaste for.

He isn't protecting a source of reliable information.

He is withholding a video of something that took place outside, in the public view. If Josh Wolf (or his friends) had nothing to do with this violent crime, then Josh need not fear anything. He should hand over the video.

The truth shall set you free, Josh.

I have been a victim of these so called heros of the press.They are not heros,they make up lies if they can't find or decide not to work to report a story.They will just make one up.The classic is we tried to contact the other person to get their side of the story.Sniff Sniff Bullshiit!!!AMERICA needs to hold the Press accountable for breaking laws and ruining peoples lives based on lies,or covering for their partners in crime commiting the REAL CRIMES..=) I was vindicated(NOT by the press) but not evryone is as lucky as me....

Before we become Cuba, N.Korea, or the old Soviet Union, we had better wake up to the fact that these small changes in the law that result in less and less liberty are starting to add up.

We better realize that eventually, we won't be very free if we continue on this road.

We must peacefully protest against such laws, or we are doomed to live in a marxist state.

Josh could well be protecting a source, but I agree strongly he should be afforded specific protections for any cooperation he provides. He deserves representation from a decent attorney.

This reminds me of a scummy situation that occured late 2004/early 2005 in Peoria, IL. An off-duty soldier who spend time in Iraq was back home. He was filming a local basketball game when a fight broke out. He kept filming despite an officer telling him to cease. The city's police chief (who didn't identify himself) reportedly took the man into custody and confiscated his video to use against him. Their newspaper wouldn't even allow me to comment on it - citing that only paid subscribers could do so. So much for public service from the press huh?

Imagine the leftist outcry if the video showed a black man being beated by a bunch of cops instead of a cop being beaten by black men.

Imagine the court wanted to find evidence of a police department run amuck.

Would lefties then call some local redneck hick blogger a "fearless avenger of press freedom" and noble champion of the first amendment"?

As an aside, I looked like crazy for the Reporters Immunity Amendment in the Bill of Rights, but I just couldn't find it.

well Dana, looks like the people have spoken. The most compelling argument is the hypocrisy angle (since hypocrisy is THE mortal sin of progressivism - rich in irony, that). Imagine if someone had tape of an anarchist brat being abused. The wailing from the left would be deafening if it was withheld. Lawsuits? You bet. If that tape-holding someone was the authorities, ABC would probably join in the suit, no?