Editorial: Quit jailing journalists

Saturday, April 7, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

After spending 226 days in a federal prison, Joshua Wolf holds the distinction for having spent more days behind bars defying a subpoena than any other journalist in American history.

Wolf, 24, is a blogger, freelance journalist and self-described activist and anarchist. Wolf is the modern-day version of the journalists of the founding fathers' day, much like the pamphleteers of the Revolutionary War.

The federal government, however, doesn't see it that way. Federal prosecutors investigating the injury of a police officer during a 2005 anarchist protest in San Francisco sent Wolf a subpoena, demanding video he shot of the demonstration, part of which he sold to a television station. They also sought his testimony. He offered to let investigators see the video, which doesn't show how the officer was injured, but refused to testify. Prosecutors took a hard line, and Wolf went to prison. He was released this week after prosecutors settled for the video.

Had his case been in a California state court, Wolf never would have been jailed. California law, much like Nevada's, protects journalists from subpoenas, which allows journalists to fearlessly pursue stories such as corruption and government wrongdoing. There is, however, no similar federal law, and federal prosecutors have been aggressively trying to force journalists to testify, which hinders reporting on important stories. For instance:

Sadly, every time someone gathering news is jailed or threatened with jail, the First Amendment right to free speech and a free press is weakened. Congress should reinforce the First Amendment by passing a law that protects news gatherers from subpoenas.