• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 30, 2024

The year is just about over, and time is running out for the Press Act, a bill that would protect journalists from government intrusion and suppression. 

This measure passed the House unanimously earlier this year, and it seemed to be on the way to unanimous voice vote passage in the Senate. But Sen. Tom Cotton “gave a speech objecting to the bill and so it failed to pass,” according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

There’s no great mystery why: President-elect Donald J. Trump has urged Republicans to kill it. 

What does the bill do?

“The PRESS Act would bar the federal government from using subpoenas, search warrants, or other compulsory actions against journalists to force the disclosure of information identifying confidential sources as well as other newsgathering records, except in very limited circumstances,” the Reporter’s Committee states. “It would also broadly limit the government’s ability to use the same actions against third parties, including email providers and search engines, to seize journalists’ data, with narrow exceptions.”

This is badly needed protection at a time when politicians are calling for a crackdown on the media, and when journalists are subjected to death threats and other forms of intimidation, endangering the public’s right to know. 

You can be a solid Trump supporter and still not agree with him on this issue.

If this “crackdown” occurs, it will hearken back to the era of the Alien and Sedition Acts, when people were jailed for dissent. Thomas Jefferson and many others saw the Acts as unconstitutional, a violation of the First Amendment.

As others have demanded, Sen. Schumer must move the Press Act to the floor and schedule a vote. There are only a few weeks to go before he loses his slot as majority leader. Get it done now.