US District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California approved the release Tuesday of jailed video journalist and blogger Josh Wolf, who was imprisoned for 226 days, longer than any other journalist, for refusing to testify before a grand jury. The judge agreed to Wolf's release after he complied with a subpoena and turned over footage he took in 2005 of a San Francisco demonstration protesting the 2005 G8 Summit. Wolf also published the previously-unreleased video footage on his website Tuesday. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has repeatedly called for Wolf's release and issued a statement Tuesday welcoming news that Wolf was to be freed.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) ranked the United States in 53rd place last October in its fifth annual Worldwide Index of Freedom. RWB mentioned Wolf's imprisonment among other factors contributing to the United States' slip of nine places in the rankings since the previous year.