Jailed blogger case assigned to mediator

Video 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sent to a federal correctional facility in Dublin, Calif., for refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury seeking unpublished footage he shot during a 2005 anarchist protest in San Francisco that turned violent.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.