We’re riding a new frontier here on blogger terrain. I wrote about what it means to be a blogger back in June and from all accounts, blogging will be around as long as we have free access to the Internet. But what do we consider ourselves, those of us who blog? Are we editorialists? Essayists? Reporters? If one sets him or herself up with a blogsite and then adds video from some event, does that protect the blogger from releasing said video to the U.S. Court of Appeals, without the threat of jail?
In an unpublished ruling issued Thursday, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled against freelance video journalist Josh Wolf and stated that he must comply with a grand jury subpoena for his unpublished footage.
I’m not going to attempt to figure out the legalities of this. I invite Donovan to do so. However, as a blogger, if one writes about a particular subject that may divulge some revealing information that the authorities want, information the blogger has, what protects the blogger from being forced to release the information? Must the blogger have a site, as Josh Wolf has, in order to be considered a reporter? One problem I see that this young man has is that he doesn’t have the backing of a newspaper to protect him, such as Judith Miller did.
In a similar vein, a couple of days ago I was listening to NPR interview Rocco Palmo, a young man who has a blog focused on the doings of the Catholic Church. One of the questions that was asked of Palmo was did his blog support him? The answer, no. Actually, he lives with his parents, but only recently did he begin asking for donations to keep the blog online. And he may just be able to support himself with this request, since Palmo has managed to build up his readership to impressive numbers. Talk about word of mouth and the ripple effect.
Rocco Palmo, a 23-year-old Philadelphian, has made a name for himself with his insider’s blog on the Catholic Church. It has become a must-read for many Catholics — even some inside the Vatican.
The computer age has certainly whooshed us into a new world, while everyone is still trying to sort the legalities and power that it contains. It will also be another forum where readers will need to sort fact from fiction, opinion from truth. Meantime, we will want to watch what transpires with Wolf while keeping a tight grip on our civil liberties.
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