Journalist or Activist?
Video blogger Josh Wolf is free from jail. For Wolf, it's the end of a record-setting prison term. But the debate over his role as a journalist continues
By Kevin Sites
SAN FRANCISCO -- Whether he is a journalist or not, as many debate, Josh Wolf believed strongly enough in the journalistic principle of protecting his sources that he was willing to spend seven and a half months in a federal prison being faithful to it.
Tuesday afternoon, he walked out of the Dublin Federal Correctional Institution in California a free man.
Wolf was in prison for refusing to hand over video he shot during a protest in San Francisco in 2005. 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.''
Just as Wolf became a poster boy for the debate over whether bloggers are actually journalists and deserving of the same legal protections, his status as an Internet icon may get another boost as likely the first federal prison inmate to be released for posting a video to his website.
Wolf, who calls himself an activist and anarchist on another one of his sites, "The Revolution Will Be Televised," filmed a July 2005 San Francisco protest against the
World Trade Organization that turned violent. A police officer suffered a fractured skull and there were allegations of attempted arson.
Wolf provided some of the footage to local television stations, but refused to give the raw outtakes to a grand jury or to testify.
(Most states, including California, have shield laws providing legal protections to journalists who want to preserve the confidentiality of unnamed sources or unpublished material gathered during the reporting process. However, those protections do not apply to proceedings in federal court. There is no federal shield law.
For more information regarding a federal shield law, visit the Society of Professional Journalists' site; for more on Wolf's case, see Yahoo! News' Media Issues coverage.)
The standoff led to Wolf being jailed and sparked a heated debate about whether an activist blogger deserved the same protections as a professional journalist...[READ MORE]
ENTERTAINMENT
American Idol, Sanjaya Malakar, and the Postmodern Condition
by Alex Blagg for The Huffington Post
All kidding aside, I happen to believe that Sanjaya Malakar will go down in TV history as the single most important personality ever to emerge from the American Idol phenomenon. Not because he's funny, not because he's cute, and not because he can't sing. Sanjaya will be remembered not for who he is, but for what he represents - the inevitable subversion of an increasingly destructive institution in the pop culture landscape.American Idol isn't "jumping the shark" this season, it is being hurled over the shark by the growing number of people who have stood by idly as the Idol sensation has doggedly dominated the American consciousness going on 5 years now, during an increasingly dire time in this nation's history. With wars and terrorists and global warming and political corruption and disease and starvation and suffering, who wouldn't want to turn their attention towards a big, shiny, sugar-dipped karaoke competition night after night? Right now, two people who weren't even Idol finalists managed to get their homogenized pop-rock albums into the Billboard Top 5.
But at what point does all that sugar make us sick? As the tides of change are once again creeping up on us - politically, culturally and otherwise - so it is time to socially evolve past this celebration of superficiality, and Sanjaya is the comet that will crash into the Idol juggernaut, inflicting irreparable damage that will signify the beginning of the end for what has seemed like an indestructible TV dynasty.
Anyone who pays even passing attention to the media will undoubtedly have noticed the sudden ubiquity of "Vote Sanjaya" proclamations among celebrities, journalists, TV shows and anyone else even tangentially related to popular culture (including us). The Sanjaya movement has gone all the way from the Vote For the Worst underground to the point at which you're not cool unless you go on the record gushing about your support of Sanjaya (hell, even Zach Braff is doing it, which, as we all know, is the international symbol for something that was once "indie" going mainstream). Sanjaya is the ironic t-shirt of American Idol (yes, the Sanjaya ironic shirt already exists), and Faux Sanjaya Love is actually overtaking the popularity of the competition itself...[READ MORE]
MUSIC
LADYHAWK Releases single; Prepares New Album; Tours U.S. and Canada
Following a series of triumphant performances at SXSW, the guys in Vancouver's LADYHAWK are taking their incendiary live show on the road. The first leg of the tour finds them teaming up with
Constantines for some pure rock 'n' roll nights throughout Central and Western Canada. Soon after the completion of the Cons/'Hawk extravaganza, Ladyhawk hooks up with Tapes N' Tapes to cut a swathe across the U.S.
While fans of Ladyhawk's debut will be pleased to know those songs still form the crux of Ladyhawk's performance, what makes these shows so exciting is that it's a chance to hear songs from the band's upcoming (release date: May 22) six-song EP, "Fight For Anarchy", as well as from their as yet unnamed second album. Due out in spring 2008, the new disc was recorded by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Pink Mountaintops, Lightning Dust, etc). It may seem like a long way off, but time flies and excitement's in the air.
Ladyhawk - "War"
Featured Album: Ted Leo Living with the Living
I finally got a chance last night to take in the new Ted Leo Living with the Living album. Unlike Shake the Sheets, Living with the Living doesn't have that stand out popular track like "Me and Mia," but individually the songs on Living with the Living show greater depth and maturity as a songwriter and musician as a whole. The Onion AV Club has a good review below:
Nobody will ever be caught just picking a Ted Leo song at an open-mic. Leo's songs can't exist without his unflagging, youthful conviction, and unlike many equally good songwriters, Leo can produce that reliably. In other words, it'd be hard for him to put out an unexciting album right now, so excitement alone wouldn't cut it. After a short sound collage, Living With The Living announces itself as another fiercely satisfying Leo record with "The Sons Of Cain," but as on his previous albums, Leo is at his best when he holds off on gratification. Living takes up plenty of room for that, running at a full hour—the longest Leo/Pharmacists album yet, and 20 minutes longer than his last, 2004's Shake The Sheets.
When Leo wants to moralize, he's admirably direct, but he also chooses the most vulnerable moment possible: "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb," more violent than anything on Sheets, comes right after the wistful lull of "A Bottle Of Buckie." Leo's become something of a leader at a time when dissent has become its own form of instant gratification. "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb" turns it back into a challenge—Leo isn't just shunning the bomber pilot who doesn't see or care about his victims, he's trying to level with him, while showing listeners images that they haven't seen either.
Leo and producer Brendan Canty have brightened and polished the scruffy punk that worked so well on Sheets, easing shifts like the one between "Bomb" and the more plaintive "La Costa Brava." They also don't hide the ever-increasing tightness Leo, bassist Dave Lerner, and drummer Chris Wilson have forged on Sheets and Hearts Of Oak and at countless shows. With interruptions like the short "Annunciation Day/Born On Christmas Day" and the reggae bum-out "The Unwanted Things," the album doesn't seem to flow comfortably, probably because Leo isn't interested in comfort. Sure, he still offers sympathy in dark times, but he knows that's nothing without restlessness. [link].
I agree with the Onion AV Club's comment about how the album doesn't flow comfortably, but like I said, individually I think each of the full songs on the album can stand on it's own, a true testament to the strength of the album and Leo's "musicology."
Ted Leo - "Army Bound"
Ted Leo - "A Bottle of Buckie"
Ted Leo - "Bomb, Repeat, Bomb"
Ted Leo website
Purchase Living with the Living or other Ted Leo albums
Featured MP3: Bright Eyes, Soul Singer in a Session Band
A few days ago I posted some tracks from Bright Eyes' new album, Cassadaga, and remarked how I felt Conner Oberst was more Elliot Smith than Bob Dylan. Well yesterday I realized how Dylan-esque in sound the track "Soul Singer in a Session Band" really is, but I'm sticking with my argument. Check the track out for yourself and let me know what you think.
Bright Eyes - "Soul Singer in a Session Band"