Freelance journalist Josh Wolf was jailed for failing to hand over raw video footage taken during a protest in the Bay Area.

The article appears from the NY Times (free membership required) HERE

According to the article, Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, said that although the jailing of journalists had become more common, Mr. Wolf’s case was the first she had heard of in which a blogger had been pursued and eventually jailed by federal authorities.
...
While California has a so-called shield law meant to protect journalists and their sources, no such law exists at the federal level. Even if there was such a law, Ms. Kirtley said, it is unclear whether a blogger and freelancer would fall under it.

Wolf's mom stated, as reported by the Huffingtonpost.com HERE , "Although the July 20th hearing seemed promising, today the judge, Judge Alsop ruled against all motions including 5th amendment rights, rights coming under freedom of the press, against bail or a stay."


I don't know about you guys, but I think this is extremely scary, especially since this guy doesn't have access to all the resources the NYTimes had for Judith Miller.

Does anyone know if Mississippi has a journalistic shield law?

no freelancers and bloggers here?

States with/without shield laws

Looks like a good project for the new media community in Mississippi. Let's lobby the Legislature.

This is really a tough issue. I can think of a number of issues here, when combined with seeming proposed answers

1) Treat bloggers just like any other journalists - particularly ones who purport to be present at such events as witnesses or those who purport to be something approaching bonafide journalists.

PROBLEM: This would mean coming up with a legal definition of "blogger", which leads to all sorts of potential registration/regulations upon "big name" bloggers. This make little sense because anyone with an ISP connection can set up one. Does that mean we'd treat 11 year old political /cultural prodigies as journalists?

2) Treat bloggers like columnists instead.

PROBLEM: While this does get around the problem of registration as a journalist, any blogger who purports to be a serious commentator (or even a not so serious one) can still get sued for libel or slander. Again, what about the aforementioned 11 year old prodigy? While gifted, s/he is still not likely to be experienced enough in law, journalism/reporting ethics, etc. to really know what s/he is doing.

3) Treat bloggers like "letters to the editor"

PROBLEM: Similar to 2. Letters do have the advantage of being "lower level" commentary to newspapers, being that they are made by the common everyday Joe or Jane (and hence the quality of their commentaries tend to vary). Even so, responsible newspapers will usually screen the letters for content and substance.

I'd think the central question that must be answered first is "how easy is it for the average Joe or Jane to get their word out?". All other things equal, I think the easier it is to use the medium to "get your word out", the lower the standard the courts should hold it. But...this brings up another issue

2) The more widely respected and reputable the website's host, the

Book publishing companies could offer a good precedent. For example, you wouldn't read a non-fiction by University of Mississippi or Oxford University Press in the same spirit you would one by Simon & Schuster. Universities are in the "business" of spreading truth, not strictly to make money (though it is wonderful when a Univ of X Press book does make money). Therefore, sophisticated readers know that books by private mass publishers are in a lower class where credibility is concerned (though this depends widely upon the author).

I think something similar can apply to blogs - the more reputable the website host (i.e. Publisher of the blog), the greater the standard they are expected to hold.

Well, this is the best I can do. What do you think?

well, here is what will happen to citizen journalists in France:

long live the king

Scary stuff.

Ladd:

am interested in your opinion on this.
I haven't formed one yet. law school cybertrash