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The draft bill was previously cut from the US Spending Bill for 2023 last December 2022. Bipartisan House and Senate Groups both reintroduced a landmark federal shield bill, providing journalists with greater protection.
Federal shield law needed to protect journalists The McDonough County Voice An ongoing investigation into former President Donald Trump’s covert maneuvering to obtain reporters’ phone and email records has led to a newly introduced federal bill calling to protect journalists’ sources from government surveillance. This proposed federal legislation is called the Protect Reporters from Excessive State Suppression (PRESS) Act. Oregon Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden proposed the bill earlier this week to protect journalists’ records from government seizure. The bill calls to protect reporters from...
Wyden's father, Peter, was a journalist. State shield laws Although almost all states, including Oregon, have similar legal protections for reporters and others against forced disclosure of confidential news sources — known as "shield laws" — there is no federal shield law. State laws do not apply to investigations by federal agencies. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 1972 case, Branzburg v. Hayes, there is no federal constitutional guarantee that keeps reporters from being compelled to testify to a grand jury. But the court invited states to enact their own laws, and the Oregon Legisl...
ADVERTISEMENT The bill, titled the Protect Reporters from Excessive State Suppression Act, would define the term "covered journalist" as someone who "gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, or publishes news or information that concerns news events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public." Under this legislation, the federal government would be prohibited from compelling electronic storage service providers to provide documents or information regarding a "covered journalist" or their personal devices. It would also require the fed...
Alerts Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) speaks to reporters after a vote at the U.S. Capitol on February 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images) With a nod to recent revelations about the Trump Justice Department seeking to unmask sources behind news reports critical of the former president, Senator Ron Wyden on Monday introduced a new bill aimed at protecting news organizations from politicized surveillance. Advertisement Accusing the former president’s staff of abusing their power to hunt down objectors, Wyden called for “clear rules” to be enshrined “into black-letter la...