Comments on: Josh Wolf in jail 193 days while feds chase the perp who popped a tail light on an SFPD cop car http://minimediaguy.org/2007/03/02/josh-wolf-in-jail-193-days-while-feds-chase-the-perp-who-popped-a-tail-light-on-an-sfpd-cop-car/ studying the media ecosystem Sun, 24 Jan 2010 06:39:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: peter http://minimediaguy.org/2007/03/02/josh-wolf-in-jail-193-days-while-feds-chase-the-perp-who-popped-a-tail-light-on-an-sfpd-cop-car/comment-page-1/#comment-6696 peter Sat, 03 Mar 2007 22:40:51 +0000 http://minimediaguy.org/2007/03/02/josh-wolf-in-jail-193-days-while-feds-chase-the-perp-who-popped-a-tail-light-on-an-sfpd-cop-car/#comment-6696 hi tom, i'm trying to get in touch with you about your investing in biotech book. can you shoot me an email? peter hi tom,

i’m trying to get in touch with you about your investing in biotech book. can you shoot me an email?

peter

]]> By: James Abate http://minimediaguy.org/2007/03/02/josh-wolf-in-jail-193-days-while-feds-chase-the-perp-who-popped-a-tail-light-on-an-sfpd-cop-car/comment-page-1/#comment-6548 James Abate Fri, 02 Mar 2007 21:31:49 +0000 http://minimediaguy.org/2007/03/02/josh-wolf-in-jail-193-days-while-feds-chase-the-perp-who-popped-a-tail-light-on-an-sfpd-cop-car/#comment-6548 If Josh Wolf was a journalist, was he even a member of the Society of Professional Journalists? I don't know, but I seriously doubt it. Even if Josh Wolf were a journalist, as I have said, there was nothing confidential about what he recorded, so there would be no priviledge. The hypothetical I have given in the past is that an attorney cannot scream in public "my client is a murderer" and expect to claim priviledge. The whole justification for priviledge is that it is neccesary to protect small classes of people from prosecution or judicial oversight to ensure the free flow of information. If anyone with a camera or a blog can be considered a "journalist" then anyone can invoke priviledge. I'm sure John Gotti would be telling all his captains to start blogging if that where the case. Bloggers like Kos and Instapundit are surely journalists in my mind. But you have to draw a line somewhere and I'm affraid Josh Wolf does not qualify for the priviledge. If it was tough getting Congress to grant a testimonial priviledge for the MSM, good luck convincing them to grant a testimonial priviledge to Ten Million bloggers. I think you will be waiting a long time for that to happen. If Josh Wolf was a journalist, was he even a member of the Society of Professional Journalists? I don’t know, but I seriously doubt it.

Even if Josh Wolf were a journalist, as I have said, there was nothing confidential about what he recorded, so there would be no priviledge. The hypothetical I have given in the past is that an attorney cannot scream in public “my client is a murderer” and expect to claim priviledge.

The whole justification for priviledge is that it is neccesary to protect small classes of people from prosecution or judicial oversight to ensure the free flow of information. If anyone with a camera or a blog can be considered a “journalist” then anyone can invoke priviledge. I’m sure John Gotti would be telling all his captains to start blogging if that where the case. Bloggers like Kos and Instapundit are surely journalists in my mind. But you have to draw a line somewhere and I’m affraid Josh Wolf does not qualify for the priviledge.

If it was tough getting Congress to grant a testimonial priviledge for the MSM, good luck convincing them to grant a testimonial priviledge to Ten Million bloggers. I think you will be waiting a long time for that to happen.

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