Create an Account
username: password:
 
  MemeStreams Logo

MemeStreams Discussion

search


This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: Josh Wolf: Journalist or Activist? - Kevin Sites. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

Josh Wolf: Journalist or Activist? - Kevin Sites
by Rattle at 10:19 pm EDT, Apr 7, 2007

This article by Kevin Sites (who reports from Yahoo these days) contains an interview with Josh Wolf conducted previous to his recent release.

Sites caries a high level of credibility and relevance in regard to the debate(s) that surround Wolf. In November of 2004 while embedded with a Marine unit, he filmed a soldier shooting an unarmed and wounded combatant. (article) Here is that video, followed by commentary from a three start military official.

I spoke to Wolf by telephone while he was still in prison a few weeks ago and asked him if his advocacy made him selective in what he videotaped at the protest. Would he turn off the camera to protect his friends? A partial transcript of our conversation follows [link to full interview in story].

Kevin Sites: If there had been a situation where you saw a protestor beating up a police officer, or you saw them committing arson, would you have shot that?

Josh Wolf: I wasn't there to shoot that.

Kevin Sites: No, but would you have shot that?

Josh Wolf: That's a question I would have made in that moment...

Kevin Sites: Well, that's what I want to ask you. If I asked you to take sides, if I asked you to take a side of journalism or activism, you know, which side are you taking here? Because you're asking for the protection of journalism yet you're also seeking to be an activist.

Josh Wolf: Would you not say that Thomas Paine was an activist for the Declaration of - or the independence of America and also...

Kevin Sites: But I would say that he would not be claiming to be journalist, he would be claiming to be an activist. That's all I'm asking you to do, is take sides. Are you claiming to be an activist or a journalist?

Josh Wolf: I don't. I see that advocacy has a firm role within the realm of journalism.

Kevin Sites: Right, but as an advocate, you have to be willing to allow yourself to be jailed and expect the consequences of your actions. As a journalist, you're asking for certain protections, you know, from those consequences. That's why I'm asking you, you know, which side do you want to step on at this point.

Josh Wolf: My role is to uncover the truth to deliver to the public. That is my number one accountability.

Kevin Sites: But that truth is through, as you said, a prism of your own political convictions.

... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]


 
RE: Josh Wolf: Journalist or Activist? - Kevin Sites
by Shannon at 2:43 pm EDT, Apr 9, 2007

jour·nal·ist /ˈdʒɜrnlɪst/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[jur-nl-ist] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a person who practices the occupation or profession of journalism.
2. a person who keeps a journal, diary, or other record of daily events.
[Origin: 1685–95; journal + -ist]

Jour·nal·ism /ˈdʒɜrnlˌɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[jur-nl-iz-uhm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. the occupation of reporting, writing, editing, photographing, or broadcasting news or of conducting any news organization as a business.
2. press1 (def. 31).
3. a course of study preparing students for careers in reporting, writing, and editing for newspapers and magazines.
4. writing that reflects superficial thought and research, a popular slant, and hurried composition, conceived of as exemplifying topical newspaper or popular magazine writing as distinguished from scholarly writing: He calls himself a historian, but his books are mere journalism.

Well, if his blog is a business... then i think it 100% qualifies. If it doesn't count as a business, it depends on what definition you're going to go by. I think a good question to ask to judge this would be, if it's not journalism, what is it then? It certainly isn't scholarly historical writing(in this case). It does exemplify a popular slant. If his intention was to _become_ a (professional)journalist, than the definition for "course of study" would also cover his use of this footage afterall, there are many people who study things independently as a hobby. Would this work be considered an "art?" Is journalism an "art?" If contemporary media is actually fill for advertising... does this disqualify it from being protected?


 
 
Powered By Industrial Memetics