Journalist Protection Bill Blocked In Senate After Tom Cotton Objects To Speedy Passage
With the clock ticking on the current Congress, there are new doubts over the prospects for a bill that would shield journalists from being compelled by the federal government to reveal their sources and materials.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) objected to efforts to speedily pass the bill, arguing that it was a “threat to national security” and was “the biggest giveaway to the liberal press in American history.”
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the author of the Senate version of the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act, or Press Act, had sought unanimous consent on the floor today to clear the bill. That is a legislative maneuver to pass legislation without a roll call, unless a lawmaker objects.
The Press Act passed the House in a unanimous vote earlier this year. Wyden indicated that he would continue to talk to Cotton to try to resolve his concerns.
The bill “protects from disclosure any information identifying a source, as well as any records, contents of a communication, documents, or information obtained or created by journalists in the course of their work.”
The bill also bars government from demanding record that third parties — like telecommunications and social media companies — hand over records that would reveal journalists’ contacts. The exceptions to the journalists’ protection are when such information is needed to prevent terrorism or imminent violence.
Although the Press Act has bipartisan sponsors and support, President-elect Donald Trump weighed in against it last month, writing on Truth Social, “REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!”
Cotton argued that the PRESS Act would turn journalists into “a protected class, free to hold, share and publish highly classified and dangerous information that no other American is allowed to possess.”
The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press has said that the bill “is a reasonable, common-sense measure to preserve the free flow of information to the public, as evidenced by its broad bipartisan support and the fact that 49 states and the District of Columbia have similar protections. All reflect the reality that the press cannot fulfill its constitutionally recognized watchdog role without some
safeguard for confidential source identities and sensitive newsgathering material. Congress must step in to provide a durable shield at the federal level.”
Backers of the bill also said that it would be an important protection for reporters on the right as well as the left, given the prevalence of conservative media outlets that engage in aggressive investigative reporting.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the “the press keeps governments accountable to the people, exposes abuse and informs people about what’s happening in government. But if government can unduly harass the press, or when leaders smear journalists as enemies of the people and when there are too few protections for journalists, our democracy is at the very real risk of eroding away.”
He said that the bill was “more important now than ever before when we’ve heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another.”
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