Having served his probation and paid his fine (a stay was placed on his community service), Manzelli is now working to have his conviction overturned. It would appear that he has cause to appeal. He was convicted of violating a state law that makes it a crime to “secretly hear, secretly record, or aid another to secretly hear or secretly record the contents of any wire or oral communication through the use of any intercepting device.” This, despite the fact that Harer testified to seeing his microphone — he claimed Manzelli was trying to hide it, Manzelli insists he wasn’t — and that no audiocassettes were played for the jury. As his appeal argues, “there was no evidence that Mr. Manzelli recorded anything, let alone recorded anything secretly.”
But clearing his own name is not what’s motivating Manzelli to appeal his conviction. He’s doing it for others like him — and in hope that others will be more like him. Given the explosion of blogging and online video, coupled with increasing mistrust of “mainstream media,” more people are sniffing out news stories on their own. Manzelli’s fight raises important questions about this new breed of journalist — specifically, what protections they are entitled to under the current law.
Wild child
At first glance, Manzelli — or, more specifically, his Freeman Z persona — may look to be little more than another slightly eccentric lefty. He talks fast, and gesticulates wildly when he speaks, and in photos taken the day of his arrest, dressed in a flak vest and frame-pack, he looks like a cross between a war photographer and a thru-hiker.
As such, his case might seem easy to characterize as a minor kerfuffle. And old news to boot. Even Harer chuckled when reached by phone recently, seemingly incredulous that Freeman Z would merit a story: “A profile of him? I think I’ll pass.”
But Manzelli claims he’s not a political agitator, saying he abhors violence at protests and has made it a point never to provoke police. “One of the things protesters need is discipline,” he says. And if his many Web sites evince a sort of gleeful anti-authoritarianism, on this issue he is very serious.
In that same vein, Manzelli places similar importance on his role as a citizen journalist, having devoted the past several years to documenting events that the mainstream media has deemed unimportant.
“My tools are recorders and cameras,” his voice intones when you visit FreemanZ.com. And, for reasons he asserts were above all else political, “the MBTA police persecuted me for completely legal and righteous use of these tools.”
He contends that the state’s wiretap law may be too vaguely worded and susceptible to abuse. In this brave new world, where government wiretapping is such a hot-button issue, it merits more than passing interest to consider whether a wiretapping law could also be used to stifle dissent.
It stands to reason, too, that professional journalists and private citizens who report on — or blog or podcast — events in public could find themselves in legal jeopardy if Manzelli’s felony conviction is allowed to stand.
