Our North Star – pass the Press Act

Herridge said in her statement, “The First Amendment, the protection of confidential sources, and a free press are my guiding principles. They are my North Star.”

Investigative journalists across the globe have sources who need to remain anonymous, who would not have come forward otherwise. They fear retribution and intimidation, they fear losing their job. And something inside them, their own moral conviction, tells them to come forward about what they know. They often have information that could lead to huge results of an investigative report. Sometimes it leads to change – change in laws, or a change in what people thought they knew to be true. In this case, her investigation was on Hunter Biden’s laptop and the “family business.” She was breaking news because she had confidential sources.

She was also fired from CBS News. And when they fired her, they seized her confidential files. On Capitol Hill Herridge said, “When the network of Walter Cronkite seizes the reporting files, including confidential source information, that is an attack on investigative journalism.”

The free press was so important, the authors of the US Constitution wrapped it in the First Amendment as part of the Bill of Rights. It secures our rights against government overreach.

Journalists serve as watchdogs for the community, ensuring your government is free of corruption and abuse of power. But yet, Herridge has spent the last two years in Federal court, protecting her sources, standing firm on the basic principles of journalism.

In countries without a free press, the media is owned by the government. The journalists report what the government wants, how the government wants, and provides only the information the government wants you to know. We live in the country celebrating the most freedoms and one of those is a free and independent press – why is Herridge being held in contempt? She is being fined $800 per day. It is sickening. When we see a national award-winning journalist going through so much from the federal courts to protect our journalism rights, we ourselves wonder what can stop it?

Well, there is a bi-partisan bill passed by the House and sitting in the Senate that would protect all journalists – it’s called “Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act or the PRESS Act.” A summary of the text is below:

This bill prohibits the federal government from compelling journalists and providers of telecommunications services (e.g., phone and internet companies) to disclose certain protected information, except in limited circumstances such as to prevent terrorism or imminent violence.

Specifically, the bill protects from disclosure any information identifying a source, as well as any records, contents of a communication, documents, or information obtained or created by journalists in the course of their work.

Further, the bill protects specified third parties, such as telecommunications carriers or social media companies, from being compelled to provide testimony or any document consisting of a record, information, or other communication that is stored by the third party on behalf of a journalist.

We must urge our Senators to pass this essential legislation. Without it, confidential sources will no longer come forward. Investigative journalism will die. Officials will be able to do nefarious and corrupt things because journalists will not have confidential sources to tell us what is going on inside the organization.

As journalists, no matter how obvious, we cannot speculate or pretend to know what is really going on. We need proof and evidence. Often times that evidence comes from confidential sources.

We are one key to a healthy, vibrant democracy. We ask the hard questions – we have to – you depend on us for it. Write a letter to your Senator – urge them to pass the PRESS Act. And if you go to C-SPAN, you can see her entire testimony. It will rock you to see how a government can take retribution and try to intimidate those who seek to tell the truth.

Reach out to our US Senators and encourage them to pass the PRESS Act:

Senator Marco Rubio

284 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Senator Rick Scott

110 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510