The Chilling Effect

by Rick Rockwell*

The tale of Josh Wolf sounds like something from Latin America. Or Russia.

Instead, you can find Wolf in jail at the Federal Detention Facility in Dublin, California.

Wolf is a freelance blogger and videographer who created a mini-documentary depicting an anti-globalization protest in San Francisco. Federal prosecutors decided they wanted Wolf’s unpublished tapes so they could better prosecute protesters arrested for assaulting a police officer. Prosecutors also say the protesters tried to set fire to a police car and they want Wolf’s tape to identify those responsible.

Wolf refuses to give up the unpublished tapes. So a judge sent him to jail for civil contempt. Wolf has been in federal custody for six months and he faces the prospect of another year in jail if he continues to refuse to hand over his tapes. Wolf now has the distinction of being the journalist jailed the longest in U.S. history.

Although the Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that journalists do not have a privilege to withhold sources in a grand jury investigation or criminal trial, that standard was not clarified until recently when Judith Miller (at that time of The New York Times) and Matt Cooper of Time challenged a ruling regarding their confidential source arrangements in the case involving the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. (Another example: just this week, two reporters for The San Francisco Chronicle avoided going to jail when their formerly anonymous source on the baseball steroid scandal agreed to step forward.) You may be following the outcome of the Plame scandal now, as I. Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney stands trial for perjury. The Libby trial has exposed the shoddy practices of modern American journalism and revealed that journalists like Miller and NBC’s Tim Russert, along with the iconic Bob Woodward, all use questionable techniques. The goals of these celebrity journalists are often attached to their own fame and profit rather than working for the public.

Supposedly, journalists work to reveal truth to the public. The Libby case has shown otherwise.

Another key ethical tenant for journalists is to remain independent. That means staying clear of entanglements with sources, especially government sources. How credible are the media if they are cutting secret deals with the government? By the way, in a democracy, the media institutions are supposedly there to help monitor government actions, something that is difficult to do for ordinary citizens.

Which brings us back to Josh Wolf. As an independent journalist, initially, Wolf had no high-priced attorney to help in his defense. Prosecutors saw his vulnerability and zeroed in on him. Wolf refuses to turn over his unpublished videotapes because he believes journalists should not become an arm of law enforcement or the government. The credibility of a free and independent media demands that.

The journalistic community has rallied behind Wolf. Organizations like Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Society of Professional Journalists have all condemned the court action that keeps him in jail.

But usually those organizations are condemning the actions of governments stifling dissent and the media in other countries, not the United States.

The Wolf case is just another example of how our freedoms are threatened at home in a time when many Americans have given the government undue license to extend its powers under the guise of fighting terrorism. Wolf is no terrorist. He was armed only with his words and his video camera. Putting activist journalists, like Wolf, in jail only sends a chilling message that our First Amendment rights are now curtailed. To protest or to cover protests is the very basis of free speech in a democratic system. Wolf’s case illustrates just how much our system has changed in the new millennium, and that change is not for the better.

*Rick Rockwell is the co-author of Media Power in Central America, which includes a chapter on media repression in Latin America. He has written extensively about free speech issues in Latin America for Freedom House, The Baltimore Sun, and numerous other publications and organizations.

(Photo of Josh Wolf from Irina Slutsky of San Francisco using a Creative Commons license via Flickr. To see a video about the Wolf case, please check below. You may also wish to view Wolf's entire mini-documentary, "All Empires Must Fall.")



Josh Wolf
free speech
Libby trial
Judith Miller
Bob Woodward
Tim Russert
Valerie Plame
journalism
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