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Thursday, December 15th, 2022

Tom Cotton blocks Senate PRESS Act designed to protect journalists

Author:     Jessica Corbett
Source:     Raw Story
Publication Date:     December 14, 2022
 Link: Tom Cotton blocks Senate PRESS Act designed to protect journalists
Stephan:   I have a number of problems with corporate media. For instance, treating politics like a horse race instead of getting into the substance of various candidates; having a programming formula with so many blocks so that a large number of important stories get little or no coverage; increasingly conservative media like Fox isn't really journalism at all, it is propaganda disinformation operation masquerading as journalism. That said a free press is essential to a functioning democracy. So, of course, the MAGAt Republicans in Congress are doing what they can to end fact-based journalism because they don't want a free press. Here is the latest move in that regard by MAGAT Tom Cotton of Arkansas. It tells you a lot about the people of Arkansas that they chose a man like Cotton as one of their senators, but that is another problem.
MAGAt Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton on Wednesday blocked the passage of a House-approved bipartisan bill that’s been heralded by advocates as “the most important free press legislation in modern times.”

The Senate had in recent days faced mounting pressure from journalists, press freedom groups, and others to follow the House’s lead and approve the Protect Reporters From Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act, spearheaded by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

After Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Tuesday revealed in the Chicago Sun-Times that he supported fast-tracking the PRESS Act (S. 2457/H.R. 4330), Wyden took to the floor early Wednesday to try to pass the bill by unanimous consent and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Cotton (R-Ark.) objected, claiming that “the PRESS Act would immunize journalists and leakers alike from scrutiny and consequences for their actions.”

“This bill would prohibit the government from compelling any individual who calls himself a ‘journalist,’” Cotton […]

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