JAILED JOURNALIST CASE ASSIGNED TO MEDIATOR

CNET - blogger Josh Wolf, who last week became the longest-imprisoned
journalist for contempt of court, got some good news yesterday in the
form of a court order assigning his case to a mediating judge for
settlement negotiations. On August 1, Wolf, 24, was sent to a federal
correctional facility in Dublin, Calif., for refusing to cooperate with
a federal grand jury seeking unpublished footage he shot during a 2005
anarchist protest in San Francisco that turned violent. With exception
of a short release on bail, he's been there ever since--for almost six
months. But on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsop, who has thus
far presided over the case, referred it to U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero
for mediation, Wolf's Oakland, Calif.-based attorney Dan Siegel said
Wednesday. "For getting Josh out of jail, it's only good news," he said,
adding that it's not unusual for such a case to get referred to a
magistrate. Neither side in the case had made a public request for
mediation, so Alsop presumably made the decision on his on volition,
said Siegel, who had not yet talked to Wolf about the news.

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