Can the Wolf Survive?

David Weigel | April 5, 2007

After being jailed for refusing to hand over video he recorded of an anarchist protest, blogger Josh Wolf is free:

In a deal brokered between his lawyers and federal prosecutors, Wolf posted the uncut video of the protest on his site, JoshWolf.net, gave prosecutors a copy, told them he had not witnessed any crimes and was released.

In exchange, prosecutors acceded to Wolf's key contention: that he not be made to appear before a grand jury and identify those on his videotape.

"Journalists absolutely have to remain independent of law enforcement,'' Wolf told reporters outside the gates of the prison. "Otherwise, people will never trust journalists.''

Still, Wolf gave over more than he'd wanted to. This seems like more of a loss than a win for new media freedom of the press.