Trump and his allies like Peter Thiel, who destroyed Gawker Media by secretly funding a lawsuit against it, have demonstrated a willingness to use the legal system against journalists. Earlier this month, Trump himself sued CBS for $10 billion, alleging that an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris constituted illegal election interference. (Though legal experts universally dismiss the lawsuit as absurd, the network will still have to devote a lot of time and resources to defending itself against it.) And he has promised to use the Justice Department to investigate his political enemies once they are in office, a threat that naturally extends to the media that has 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 adding that many media outlets would be “scrutinized” once he takes office again. the charge.
“They are a real threat to democracy and, in fact, they are THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” Trump said.
In July, the Reporters Committee and 53 other media and press rights organizations asked Senate leaders to move forward on the PRESS Act, warning that Justice Department rules could be changed or reversed on a whim. “Only Congress,” they said, “can provide the press with the certainty of a federal statute.”
Senate staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told WIRED that the bill’s inclusive definition of “journalism” was a selling point among conservatives, and that the definition extended far beyond the “institutional press.” “, as the courts sometimes call it. The language of the law defines a journalist as “a person who regularly gathers, prepares, compiles, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, investigates or publishes news or information concerning local, national or international events or other matters of interest”. public interest for its dissemination to the public.” This is in keeping with American traditions, rooted in the First Amendment, of defining a journalist as someone who practices journalism rather than someone who belongs to a trade or operates under a government license.
“It’s a very broad definition,” adds Timm. “And there is no ideological proof. It protects conservative journalists as much as it protects liberal, mainstream or corporate journalists.”
“There is nothing more sensible, 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 nonpartisan media all depend on speaking to sources without fear of being spied on by government officials who want to suppress unflattering information.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, who previously expressed opposition to the bill, did not respond to a request for comment. in a statement two years agoCotton, an Arkansas Republican, said the bill would “open a floodgate of leaks harmful to law enforcement and our nation’s security.” He went on to denounce 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 published in its entirety only after then-Senator Mike read it in the Congress Minutes. Gravel.
“These leaks were reckless and detrimental to our national security,” Cotton added, stating that there is “no shortage of legitimate and legal avenues for whistleblowers to reveal potential government misconduct.”