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<font size=3>For Immediate Release June 14, 2006<br>
From: "Carlos Villarreal" <carlos@nlgsf.org> <br><br>
<br>
<b>National Lawyers Guild Condemns Attack on News Gathering<br>
</b>Local Prosecutors Circumvent State Journalist Protections With
Federal Grand Jury<br>
<br>
A federal grand jury continues to target a San Francisco independent
journalist in an attempt to force him to turn over materials that would
normally be protected by the California’s Reporter Shield Law. A
second subpoena was issued to Josh Wolf by an agent of the Federal Bureau
of Investigations this Monday after a Federal court denied his request to
quash a previous, similar subpoena. He has been ordered to testify
before the Federal grand jury this Thursday at 1:15 p.m. and to produce
unpublished portions of a videotape documenting a protest that occurred
in San Francisco’s Mission District last year.<br>
<br>
<b>The National Lawyers Guild will host a press conference at noon on
Thursday, June 15<sup>th</sup> in front of the Federal Building – where
the grand jury will convene – 450 Golden Gate in San Francisco.<br>
</b> <br>
California’s shield law, according to a recent court decision on the
matter, “is intended to protect the gathering and dissemination of
news.” In that decision, the California Court of Appeals in San
Jose confirmed that the law protected internet bloggers just as it
protected corporate news reporters. Despite the fact that local
state prosecutors and police are already investigating criminal activity
related to the Mission protest, and that there is cooperation between
state and federal entities, the federal government has successfully
argued that the state law should not apply. Federal protections are
not as strong.<br>
<br>
Attorney Jose Luis Fuentes, of the Oakland based Siegel & Yee firm,
is representing Wolf. “My client has filmed a lot of political
activity and free speech activity in the Bay Area as a journalist and
this subpoena with its associated threat of jail time for noncompliance
has an incredible chilling effect on his and other journalist’s freedom
to gather and disseminate information to the public,” said Fuentes.
Wolf, his attorneys and the Bay Area National Lawyers Guild (NLG) are
alarmed and warn that this situation could lead to increased suspicion of
the media by political activists or a resistance to public demonstrations
for fear of unfair federal witch hunts. <br>
<br>
Wolf also feels, “The ramifications of this case could have a deleterious
effect on all journalists, both independent and those associated with the
established media, as the government’s actions seek to eviscerate the
state protections afforded to news gatherers under the various state
shield laws.”<br>
<br>
The NLG is also greatly concerned with the level of cooperation seen
between San Francisco police and prosecutors and the federal
government. “Particularly under the Bush Administration, with
Ashcroft and now Alberto Gonzalez, we are seeing much more cooperation
between the federal government and local governments,” said Carlos
Villarreal, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild San
Francisco Bay Area. “This grand jury investigation shows that
greater civil liberty protections by states can easily become irrelevant
when the federal government gets involved and local officials show no
respect for those civil liberties.”<br><br>
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<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
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San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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