USA: RSF urges Senate to pass key press shield legislation before time runs out
With time running out on the 2024 U.S. legislative calendar, Senators have few opportunities left to bring the PRESS Act to a vote – a key press shield law which passed the House earlier this year but has yet to clear the Senate. RSF is urging Senate leaders to pass the bill as a priority before the 118th Congress ends on January 3, 2025, in the interest of strengthening U.S. press freedom and reversing recent worrying deterioration.
As legislators focus on another high-stakes showdown over a funding bill that would keep the federal government open past a September 30 deadline, the Senate has increasingly few opportunities to pass this critical press freedom legislation. Senators are only set to meet for a few weeks in September before returning to their districts ahead of the November elections. But Senate leaders could include the PRESS Act, which already enjoys widespread bipartisan support and passed the House unanimously, as a part of must-pass legislation before the end of the year. Otherwise, the PRESS Act may face a second year of languishing in the Senate without a vote.
“The PRESS Act is a commonsense, bipartisan bill that will measurably strengthen American freedom of the press. All it will take is political will on the part of Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell to take this major step forward and enact a federal shield law to protect journalists and their sources. What’s more, passing the PRESS Act in an election year – and a year where the U.S. fell an unprecedented 10 places on RSF’s World Press Freedom Index – would send a powerful message reinforcing the importance of a free press in American democracy. ”
Clayton Weimers
Executive Director, RSF USA
The PRESS Act is a federal press shield law, which would prohibit federal law enforcement from subpoenaing protected information from journalists’ work or personal devices and accounts. Some version of a press shield law exists in 49 states, but a federal law would help protect journalists who risk jail time, fines, and other punishment for refusing to reveal their sources in federal courts or congressional inquiries. It would also clarify often confusing differences of opinion between appellate courts who have at various times ruled differently when journalist source secrecy has been at stake. The bill represents a much needed improvement to legal protections for journalists and their sources.
If the bill fails to pass this year, the responsibility will fall on the next president to prioritize and champion it. RSF has urged both presidential candidates to commit to signing the PRESS Act as one of 10 measures needed to improve the U.S. press freedom record. This year the United States fell to a worrying new low in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, where it is now ranked 55th out of 180 countries.
