09/12/06

Court upholds contempt citation against journalist over G-8 protest


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Sept. 11 upheld the contempt of court citation against a freelance journalist who is refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating an anarchists' protest he videotaped.

A federal grand jury subpoenaed Joshua Wolf to acquire the 30 minutes of unpublished material, but he refused and was ordered jailed Aug. 1. He was released a month later as he appealed his case.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 1972 Supreme Court precedent requires everyone, including journalists, to appear before grand juries if they have been summoned.

"The Supreme Court has declined to interpret the First Amendment to 'grant newsmen a testimonial privilege that other citizens do not enjoy,'" a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appeals court wrote.

Wolf, 24, videotaped a July 2005 protest where anarchists allegedly vandalized a San Francisco police car and an officer suffered a fractured skull after being hit. The anarchists were protesting a G-8 international economic conference in Scotland.

Wolf sold some of the footage to San Francisco television stations and posted it on his Web site, but refused to turn over unpublished material. U.S. District Judge William Alsup found him in contempt of court and ordered him jailed.

"It's pretty preposterous," Wolf said, adding that the decision "essentially echoes" the lower court's ruling that found him in contempt.

The freelance journalist is the outreach director for the Peralta Community College District cable television system. He also instructs students preparing for the Scholastic Assessment Test.

Jose Luis Fuentes, Wolf's lawyer, said he would ask the appeals court to allow him to remain free while he petitions the court to reconsider the issue with a larger panel of 15 judges.

Theodore Boutrous Jr., a lawyer for the California First Amendment Coalition and other journalism groups, said he would support those efforts.

Although the incident Wolf caught on video involved San Francisco police, federal authorities are investigating because it involved destruction of federally funded property.

Wolf claimed the federal grand jury shouldn't have been involved because the destruction of a city police car is not a federal concern.

The appeals court, however, ruled Wolf falsely suggested he could have refused to turn over his footage to a California grand jury because of the state's shield law protecting reporters from having to reveal unpublished material. However, there's no shield law protecting reporters from federal grand juries.

The court wrote that California's shield law protects journalists "connected with or employed upon a newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service."

The appellate panel said: "Wolf produced no evidence this videotape was made while he was so connected or employed."