Last night I was watching
Frontline episode
News War Pt. 1. I thought about a lot of things when I watched this episode. I thought about why people don't trust the media. I think about what the media has become in modern day America. How did we get to this place? How did the media and government get in a place where it is such a battle all the time? This is supposed to be a four part Frontline. I hope they go over a lot of how we got here.
They talked a lot about grand juries and journalists. There is no federal
shield law for journalists. If a federal grand jury asks you a question you better answer. The Attorney General and Department of Justice will have no problem throwing anyone in jail. With the public option of journalist, I do not think the public will come rushing to your aid.
On top of these is the question, who is a journalist? Is a blogger a journalist? There is no licenses for journalists. You do not have to pass a test like a lawyer. You do not have to join a professional society to be a journalist. If you go back to when the Bill of Rights was written anyone who could print up a pamphlet was a journalist. I think that is a good reason to say a blogger is a journalist.
In the Frontline episode they talk about
Josh Wolf. He is currently in jail for not providing his unused footage to the police when they asked for it. He is now in jail because of this stand. I remember when this case started. I guess I was not too worried about it because I do not like anarchists. Since this was related to an anarchist anti-globalism march, I was not too worried about the results.
According to the episode Josh Wolf has been in jail longer then any American journalist. I wonder what this is not more in the news. I know that many journalist do not like bloggers. It is easy to see journalist painting bloggers all with the same brush. I would think that journalist would be more interested in this because it could happen to them.
I would like to point out Keith Olbermann. He covered Judith Miller going to jail for her source like it was a matter of national shame. He spoke as if her going to jail as our democracy was falling apart. Yet I do not remember one mention of Josh Wolf on his show.
Judith Miller knows that she and Josh Wolf are in the same boat.
I met Josh Wolf once. It was a few weeks the whole protest thing happened. KRON held an event for bloggers. We talked about video blogging and if it was really going to take off or not. He was really passionate about video on the web. This way way before YouTube and Google video.
As a blogger I feel that I should be doing more for this case. I am do not see myself as a citizen journalist. I still think it is important for bloggers who do work as citizen journalist are protected. I think that shield laws should protect bloggers.
I am outraged that Josh Wolf is still in jail. I am disappointed with the mainstream media that they have given little notice to this story. I am just not sure what I can do about any of it.
Labels: blogging, flickrpost, frontline, journalism, legal system, PBS, web video
