Trump and his allies like Peter Thiel, who secretly funded a lawsuit against Gawker Media to destroy it, have demonstrated a willingness to use the legal system against journalists. Earlier this month, Trump himself CBS sued For $10 billion, claiming that an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris constituted illegal election interference. (Although legal experts universally dismiss the suit as absurd, the network would still have to devote significant time and resources to defending against it.) And he used the Justice Department to investigate his political enemies once in office. Vows to use – a threat that is naturally extended to news outlets that have angered him. In September, the former president, now president-elect, accused NBC News and “others” of treason in response to coverage of his criminal court cases, while also saying that several news outlets had “disrespected” him after he took office. A “thorough investigation” will be conducted.
“They are the true threat to democracy and are, in fact, enemies of the people!” Trump said,
In July, the Reporters Committee and 53 other news media and press rights organizations called on Senate leaders to take up the Press Act, warning that Justice Department rules could be changed or overturned without discretion. He said, “Only Congress can provide the press with certainty of federal law.”
The Senate staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told WIRED that the bill's inclusive “journalism” definition was a selling point among conservatives, noting that the definition extended far beyond the “institutional press,” as Courts sometimes call this. The language of the act defines a journalist as “a person who regularly collects, prepares, assembles, photographs news or information relating to local, national or international events or other matters, Records, writes, edits, reports, investigates, or publishes.” Public interest for dissemination to the public.” This is in keeping with American traditions, rooted in the First Amendment, to define a journalist as someone who practices journalism, not as someone who belongs to a guild or holds a government license. Works under.
“It's a very broad definition,” says Tim, “and there's no conceptual test. “It protects conservative journalists as much as it protects liberal or mainstream or corporate journalists.”
“There is nothing more common sense or more bipartisan than protecting journalists from unnecessary government surveillance,” Senator Ron Wyden, author of the Senate version of the Press Act, told WIRED. “Conservative, liberal, and non-partisan media all depend on talking to sources without fear of being spied on by government officials who may want to suppress unflattering information.”
Senator Tom Cotton, who previously voiced opposition to the bill, did not respond to a request for comment. in a statement two years agoCotton, a Republican from Arkansas, said the bill would “open a floodgate of leaks harmful to law enforcement and the security of our country.” He condemned the publication of the Pentagon Papers – a classified study that revealed that the US government had misled the public for decades about its involvement in Vietnam, which was only fully disclosed after then-Senator Mike Read into the Congressional Record. Was published. Gravel.
“These leaks were reckless and harmful to our national security,” Cotton said, declaring that “whistleblowers have no shortage of legitimate and legal avenues to disclose potential government misconduct.”