Trump and his allies like Peter Thiel, who financially destroyed Gawker Media by secretly suing him, have shown a willingness to use the legal system against journalists. Earlier this month, Trump himself sued CBS for $10 billion, claiming there was illegal election interference in an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. (While legal experts universally dismiss the lawsuit as ludicrous, the network will still have to devote significant time and resources to defending against it.) And he has vowed to challenge the Justice Department for its political would use it to investigate adversaries—a threat that naturally extends to news organizations that have offended 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 when he takes office again, many The news will be “thoroughly investigated”.
“They are a real threat to democracy and in fact the enemy of the people!” Trump said.
In July, the Reporters Committee and 53 other news media and press rights organizations called on Senate leaders to advance the Press Act, warning that Justice Department rules could be changed or altered at will. “Only Congress can provide the press with the assurance of federal law,” he said.
Senate staffers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Wired that the bill’s definition of comprehensive “journalism” is a selling point among conservatives, defined by the “institutional press.” Proceedings, as the courts sometimes call it. The language of the act defines a journalist as “a person who regularly collects, prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, edits, reports, investigates makes, or publishes news or information relating to local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest.” It is in keeping with American traditions, rooted in the First Amendment, to define a journalist as a person who practices journalism rather than as someone who belongs to a group. Holds or operates under a government license.
“That’s a very broad definition,” says Tim. “And there is no ideological test. It protects conservative journalists as much as it does 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, who authored the Senate version of the Press Act, told Wired. “Conservative, liberal and nonpartisan media all rely on sources to speak without fear of being spied on by government officials who want to suppress inconvenient information.”
Senator Tom Cotton, who previously expressed opposition to the bill, did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement two years ago, Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, said the bill would “open the floodgates of leaks that harm law enforcement and our nation’s security.” He denounced the release of the Pentagon Papers – a classified study that revealed decades of US government misled the public about its involvement in Vietnam – read into the Congressional Record by then-Senator Mike Published in full only later. Pebbles.
“These leaks were reckless and harmful to our national security,” Cotton said, adding, “There is no shortage of legitimate and legal avenues for whistleblowers to expose potential government misconduct.”
