Have they no sense of proportion?

Going for the record.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 5 — A freelance videographer who refused to cooperate with a grand jury investigation will become the longest incarcerated journalist in modern American history on Tuesday. The freelancer, Josh Wolf, will pass Vanessa Leggett, an investigator and a journalist who served 168 days in 2001 and 2002 for refusing to surrender information in a murder case.

Mr. Wolf, 24, has been in prison since August, with a brief break in September related to his appeal, after refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigation of an anticapitalist protest in 2005 in which a police officer here was injured and a squad car was slightly damaged by a small explosive device.

Prosecutors have demanded that Mr. Wolf give them his raw video, some of which he has posted on his Web site, www.joshwolf.net, as well as testify about the protesters seen on the tape for an investigation into possible charges, including arson.

“Wolf videotaped a public demonstration where there may have been an attempt to set a police car ablaze and where a San Francisco police officer’s skull was fractured when he was hit from behind by a demonstrator,” said Luke Macaulay, a spokesman for the United States attorney for the Northern District of California.

Mr. Macaulay cited six federal decisions in the government’s favor, including one last week that denied a request for a new hearing.

“This office has issued a lawful subpoena for legitimate investigative purposes,” he said.

Mr. Wolf says he is protecting his sources. He remains behind bars even as the United States attorney who had him held, Kevin V. Ryan, has said he is stepping down and the San Francisco district attorney has dismissed the lone remaining criminal case involving the protest.

Mr. Wolf could stay jailed until the term of the grand jury ends in July.

Held longer than a reporter with information in a murder case.

What I especially don't understand about this case is if prosecutors are claiming that the video actually shows the crimes mentioned above. Especially now that DA has dismissed the remaining charge. This, then, becomes all about the power of Federal Prosecutors to control the press.