Journalists can keep a secret

Published in Long Beach City College's Viking newspaper in 2007.

Jailed reporter finds out federal law fails to protect him.

I don't have to tell anyone anything, but I'll ask a lot of questions, I'll dig, I'll research and I'll hope for a truthful answer by the end.
I realize a non-journalist may perceive the action as selfish or uncooperative in certain situations, maybe even disruptive in a court of law, but a journalist has a job to obtain facts and attempt to print real truth, not tattletale.
I may see or hear things other don't. I may gain the confidence of an individual, which in turn, may lead me down a path of valuable and to some, unobtainable, information. The information may then allow me to inform the public regarding important issues.
Journalists have many jobs, faces and personalities, but journalism is not a branch of law enforcement, a fat arm swinging from a fatter body.
Journalists shouldn't be prosecuted for keeping sources secret.
Journalist Josh Wolf, 24, is sitting in a cell for committing journalism. Wolf holds the U.S. record for the longest amount of time a journalist has spent in jail.
Going on 8 months, Wolf is being held in "coercive custody" at the Federal Detention Facility in Dublin, Calif. A San Francisco protest against the G8 Summit in 2005 changed his life.
While shooting footage for his Web site, an officer was struck in the head and injured somewhere in the chaos, but Wolf said the action is absent from his tape. Wolf said he was filming an officer choking a protester when the officer in question was struck.
Wolf refused to comply with a subpoena ordering him to release the tape and testify. Wolf says all the newsworthy content was posted online the evening of the incident, but the government wants the entire tape and for him to identify individuals marching with masks.
More information may be found at www.joshwolf.net.
A shield law protects journalists from being forced to reveal sources and although California enforces a shield law for journalists, the federal government fails to recognize one and Wolf's case was deemed federal.
I believe the federal government needs to completely uphold the First Amendment and offer journalists protection to perform an accurate job.
The government needs to realize and accept the idea journalists are watchdogs and vital to a free nation.
If the public knew journalists were forced to give up any and all information to the police, nobody would talk to us, investigative journalism would wither and all news media would be completely unreliable. The nation's citizens would be forced to believe our country rules the world and all evangelicals are sane. No other side would be reported.
Opponents criticize journalists who harbor information for potential criminals, but journalists must have the option to offer confidentiality, otherwise a story may never be told and I believe in enlightenment before justice.
The federal government, with all the technology available, shouldn't have to rely on a reporter's notebook to apprehend thugs.