Could they really go to jail over this? We at SFist are watching this case eagerly, and watching the comments on Phil Bronstein's post on the Chron's not at all grandiosely titled "First Amendment Battle" blog even more eagerly. We're assuming that the point of this one-post blog, especially one with lines like "We also believe that the press' ability to gather information is an essential part of an appropriate check and balance on the power of government. It is the job and responsibility of journalists to help the public hold government accountable," is to foster discussion on the issue of the rights of the press, though the comments have taken this crazy tangent into what's wrong with the Chron, what's wrong with Barry, and (in a comment that we see has been deleted without any sort of note, yet another example of the Chron's ignorance of the blogging rules of engagement) some exceedingly unkind remarks about Bronstein's personal life.

We here at SFist are fascinated by this story, because it contains some of our favorite elements: people crapping on the Chron, the possibility (however amorphous) of incarceration for the players, and the possibility that one day issues like this might effect us. After all, if the feds are willing to subopena these guys, how long will it be before we're gonna get called to the carpet for any inside scoop on Gavin, whoever's running against Daly now, and, uh, an unnamed local daily print publication?