On Wednesday President-elect Donald J. Trump called on Republicans to “kill” a journalist shield law that unanimously passed the U.S. House without opposition in January.
The following statement is from The NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss:
Our union — the largest union of journalists in America — supports the PRESS Act, which would protect two rights Americans hold dear.
Our founding fathers knew that the only way we effectively practice democracy is to protect our right to a free press and our free speech. America’s journalists seek truth and report it to our communities, a practice we have done for almost 250 years.
Americans would not know about the corruption of former Democratic Senator Bob Menendez or former Republican Representative George Santos without the hard work of local journalists holding power to account. We would not know about the water crisis in Flint, Mich. or why a 12-story condo building collapsed in Surfside, Fla., killing 98 people.
All of us depend on journalism, especially local journalism, to shine a light and protect Americans from threats, both foreign and domestic.
The PRESS Act protects all voices: news sources, whistleblowers and the journalists they talk to from media outlets across the spectrum. Our members include journalists at the Wall Street Journal, the Detroit Free Press in Michigan, The Nation, Business Insider, the Miami Herald in Florida, the South Bend Tribune in Indiana, the Billings Gazette in Montana and more than 200 other newsrooms big and small, print and digital-only.
Many of America’s hardworking journalists toil in newsrooms that have fewer than 10 souls, covering countless school boards and city halls. They are not paid extravagant salaries. They work long hours. They listen to countless sources. They uncover the truth. And they do it for us, so that we might better understand ourselves and our communities.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees that every American has the right to a free press and the right to free speech so that we may tell our stories without fear or favor to a journalist.
We strongly urge all members of Congress to support the PRESS Act, protect American free speech and protect our nation’s free press.