The line between what constitutes journalism and what constitutes online activism is quickly blurring. Thanks to online publishing software like Moveable Type and Blogger, more people than ever have the ability to dispense news and information, though more often than not it is unfiltered vitriol.
Still, blogs have the ability to create vibrant discussion and to contextualize events in a way that was hitherto unheard of. Anyone can blog, because the cost of entry is ridiculously low, and therefore anyone can become an online personality with greater readership than many newspapers and magazines.
Josh Wolf is one of those online personalities. Recently, Wolf became the first blogger thrown in federal jail for not cooperating with authorities, after he withheld video footage he shot at an anti-G8 rally resulting in a clash between the police and protesters. Wolf was arrested in California, a state with a shield law. However, the authorities said that Wolf was an online activist and not a journalist, and thus he could not benefit from the law.
Wolf was imprisoned on September 22, 2006 and would not be released until April 3, 2007. The authorities released Wolf after he posted the unaired footage on his Web site (www.joshwolf.net)
This entire situation raises an interesting question: Should bloggers be afforded the same rights as mainstream journalists? This question has no easy answer. On the one hand, bloggers are not as accountable as mainstream journalists. If a journalist is consistently wrong or unprofessional, his superiors will fire him. On the other hand, some blogs have a greater ability to dispense news and opinion in an unfiltered manner. They can also act as watchdogs, pointing out the numerous inaccuracies within the mainstream press.
But how do we know that a blogger is acting as a journalist and not protecting the identity of his associates who have committed a crime? We don’t, really. However, as all media converge to the Internet, the line between citizen and journalist is melding together.
Mainstream journalists are concerned that bloggers do not play by the same rules as they do. That may be true. It may also be true that it is extremely easy for anyone to claim that he or she is a blogger. Regardless, shield laws should be re-written in order to cover online journalists under most situations. It only makes sense, considering that online journalism is quickly outpacing the print medium.
In retrospect, it is evident that Wolf did not deserve the excessive stay in jail he received. He took a fall based on his principles. However, it is difficult to feel too bad for Wolf, or to label him a martyr, because he could have just as easily handed his footage over, as it was virtually worthless to the police anyway.