A statement from the head of the News Media Alliance:
Journalists across the country work hard every day to gather and report the news for their communities. Unfortunately, the highly polarized political climate has put the safety of journalists at risk. The News Media Alliance applauds Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) for bicameral introduction the Journalist Protection Act, which would give federal prosecutors the power to prosecute those who attack or intimidate journalists while they are attempting to do their jobs. We hope that with the bill’s enactment, journalists will be safer on the job and can focus on informing the public and enhancing the public discourse, which are critical to a functioning democracy.
Today Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) reintroduced the Journalist Protection Act to make a federal crime of certain attacks on those reporting the news. This reintroduction is happening during Sunshine Week, when the importance of access to information is recognized. A free press is critical in helping to shine light on our government and illuminate the challenges facing our country.
The Journalist Protection Act makes it a federal crime to intentionally cause bodily injury to a journalist affecting interstate or foreign commerce in the course of reporting or in a manner designed to intimidate him or her from newsgathering for a media organization. It represents a clear statement that assaults against people engaged in reporting is unacceptable, and helps ensure law enforcement is able to punish those who interfere with newsgathering.
Both before and since taking office, President Trump has blatantly stoked a climate of extreme hostility toward the press. He has called the press “the enemy of the American people,” and described mainstream media outlets as “a stain on America.” He once tweeted a GIF video of himself body-slamming a person with the CNN logo superimposed on that person’s face, and retweeted a cartoon of a “Trump Train” running over a person with a CNN logo on its head.
Such antagonistic rhetoric encourages others to think, regardless of their views, that violence against journalists is acceptable. Last April, the international organization Reporters Without Borders dropped the United States’ ranking in its annual World Press Freedom Index by two points, to number 45 overall, citing President Trump’s bashing of the media.
“From tweeting #FakeNews to proclaiming his contempt for the media during campaign rallies, the President has created a hostile environment for members of the press,” said Swalwell. “A healthy democracy depends on a free press unencumbered by threats of violence. We must protect journalists in every corner of our country if they are attacked physically while doing their job, and send a strong, clear message that such violence will not be tolerated. That is what my bill, the Journalist Protection Act, would do.”
In March 2017, OC Weekly journalists said they were assaulted by demonstrators at a Make America Great Again rally in Huntington Beach, CA. The following August, a reporter was punched in the face for filming anti-racism counter-protestors in Charlottesville, VA. At a rally hosted by the President in El Paso, TX just last month, a man in a Make America Great Again hat attacked a BBC reporter and yelled expletives directed at “the media.”
“The values celebrated during Sunshine Week – accountability through transparency, access to public information, and freedom of the press – are under attack like never before,” said Blumenthal. “Under this administration, reporters face a near-constant barrage of verbal threats, casting the media as enemies of the American people and possible targets of violence. This bill makes clear that engaging in any kind of violence against members of the media will simply not be tolerated.”
“Over 200 years ago, our Founding Fathers had the foresight to recognize the importance of a free press to a fledgling democracy,” said Menendez. “Now, more than ever, their importance can’t be overstated. Despite the dangerous rhetoric coming from the Trump Administration, and yet another disturbing attack on a journalist covering a MAGA rally, the press is not the enemy of the people. A free, and independent press—a strong Fourth Estate—is essential to the American people and our democracy, ensuring an informed public and holding those in power accountable. We cannot condone any physical attacks on journalists or members of the media.”
The bill is supported by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and by News Media for Open Government, a broad coalition of news media and journalism organizations working to ensure that laws, policies and practices preserve and protect freedom of the press, open government and the free flow of information in our democratic society.
“American journalists are facing assaults, threats, intimidation and even murder simply for fulfilling their First Amendment duties by reporting the news,” said Bernie Lunzer, president of The NewsGuild, a division of the CWA. “The Journalist Protection Act strengthens the free press that’s essential to our democracy.”
“Now more than ever, our industry needs the Journalist Protection Act to ensure both our members and their equipment have an extra layer of defense from attacks,” said Charlie Braico, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, also a CWA division. “It’s also another way of saying in these turbulent times that yes, the First Amendment matters – and it’s worth protecting.”
“A journalist should not have to worry about threats of harassment or physical attacks solely for doing their jobs and informing the public,” said Melissa Wasser, Coalition Director for News Media for Open Government. “Forty-eight journalists faced physical attacks while gathering and reporting the news in 2018, as documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. More than two dozen newsrooms have received hoax bomb threats, disrupting their operations. Not only is the role of the news media in our democracy under attack, but the safety of individual journalists is threatened. The Journalist Protection Act would not elevate journalists to a special status, but rather would ensure they receive the same protections if attacked while gathering and reporting the news.”
One of those sponsors’ names might seem familiar to you. The Western Journal explains why:
A reporter who has chronicled one senator’s threat to call the police on him for doing his job is now pointedly asking a question of that same senator, who supports the proposed Journalist Protection Act.
This week, New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez used “Sunshine Week,” an annual event to support the right of the American people to know what goes on in government, to cite his support of the bill that would make “certain attacks on those reporting the news” federal crimes.
Menendez said the importance of the media “can’t be overstated.” Menendez implied that abuse of journalists was a one-party issue, attacking President Donald Trump for “dangerous rhetoric,” and citing Trump’s reference to the media as “the enemy of the people,” according to The Hill.
That set Henry Rodgers to tweeting a very pointed question.
“Remember that time you threatened to call the police on me for asking you if you would vote for the Green New Deal last month? I’m a credentialed reporter. So this applies to me as well, right?” asked Rodgers, who works for The Daily Caller.
Last month, Rodgers and Menendez had a run-in at a Washington Metro station. Rodgers was asking about the Green New Deal.
“Not interested,” Menendez said in comments Rodgers recorded.
“I have nothing to say to The Daily Caller. You’re trash. I won’t answer questions to The Daily Caller, period! You’re trash! Don’t keep harassing me or I’ll call Capitol Police!”
However on Tuesday, Menendez saw the role of the media in more glowing terms.
“A free, and independent press — a strong Fourth Estate — is essential to the American people and our democracy, ensuring an informed public and holding those in power accountable,” said a release from Menendez, fellow Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California.
The bill was originally introduced in February 2018, according to The Hill. Menendez, Blumenthal and Swalwell re-introduced it on Tuesday.
“The Journalist Protection Act makes it a federal crime to intentionally cause bodily injury to a journalist affecting interstate or foreign commerce in the course of reporting or in a manner designed to intimidate him or her from newsgathering for a media organization,” the release stated.
“It represents a clear statement that assaults against people engaged in reporting is unacceptable, and helps ensure law enforcement is able to punish those who interfere with newsgathering.”
Media unity has been shattered in recent days as some news outlets have worked together against Fox News.
Some in the media have said that as assaults on journalists rise, some form of action is needed.
“Dozens of physical assaults on journalists doing their jobs were documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in 2017,” said Rick Blum, director of News Media for Open Government, Forbes reported in 2018 when the bill was introduced.
“Online harassment of journalists has included death threats and threats of sexual and other physical violence. Taken together, it is clear that not only is the role of the news media in our democracy under attack, but the safety of individual journalists is threatened. It’s time to reverse course. Physical violence and intimidation should never get in the way of covering police, protesters, presidents and other public matters,” he said.
That wasn’t the sponsor you were thinking of? The Washington Free Beacon reports:
Major media outlets have provided little or no coverage of a Democratic congressman’s suggestion the government would use “nukes” against Americans who resisted efforts to confiscate semiautomatic weapons.
On Friday, during an exchange over his proposal to confiscate certain firearms, Representative Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) suggested the government would use nuclear weapons against Americans who resisted confiscation efforts.
“And it would be a short war my friend,” he tweeted. “The government has nukes. Too many of them. But they’re legit.”
Swalwell later claimed his suggestion the government would use nuclear weapons against Americans was “sarcastic” but did not respond to a Washington Free Beacon request for comment or clarification of his views.
Advocates believe journalists are special people because of the inclusion of the free press in the First Amendment. (Which at least Menendez appears to not support.)
As someone who has been physically threatened in this line of work (anonymous phone call to the wrong employer suggesting I was going to be run off the road and beaten for following a particular government body), I shudder to think that journalists might support this. As with hate-crime laws, even if this proposal became law it would prevent or stop not a single violent act toward a journalist; it would only punish the journalist-assaulter. (Assuming that person is caught.) If they feel too intimidated by someone’s words to do their jobs, they need to be in a different line of work — say, public relations.
Those journalists who feel their safety is in danger need to do something about it, instead of cowering behind the skirts of Big Government. (As even police will tell you, when you need help in seconds, police will be there in minutes.) Take a self-defense class, learn how to handle and shoot a gun (which for one thing might reduce the amount of ignorance of a lot of journalists toward firearms and gun owners), and carry that gun with you. Most bullies reverse course when faced with the threat of imminent harm, let alone the end of their lives.
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 
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