Convicted felon, Donald Trump, has fired another shot across the bow of free speech with his call to kill journalism shield laws.
Notice: We understand that the collapse of America can be distressing to some American readers, but help is available. If you are suffering from a mental health crisis, you can call 988 to talk to someone.
Earlier this month, we reported on the development that Brendan Carr has officially been tapped to lead the FCC. This was notable for a variety of reasons including killing free speech on the internet by further killing any network neutrality laws that help to protect said speech. Moreover, Trump has been on the record demanding that journalists be jailed and broadcast licenses be revoked for the crimes of questioning his holy orangeliness. As such, it is believed by many that Carr would carry out those marching orders as well… somehow.
Today, we are learning that Trump has fired another shot across the bow of free speech with a recent call to kill protective journalism shield legislation. From Techdirt:
What stupid times we live in. President-elect Donald Trump has ordered Republicans to kill a widely-supported bipartisan journalism shield law that would protect press freedom and whistleblowers. Many people voted for Donald Trump on the false belief that he would “protect free speech.” But in reality, nearly every instinct he has is to stifle free speech. And now he’s going even further by throwing a temper tantrum and demanding Republicans kill the PRESS Act, a bipartisan bill that would enshrine protections for journalists and their sources under the First Amendment.
Generally, good journalists will promise to protect their sources, but without a shield law, it’s much more difficult to guarantee that they can keep those promises, especially if they face legal pressure or threats. The result is that fewer sources are willing to talk, which means less transparency and accountability. Fewer whistleblowers are able to call out wrongdoing without fear of retaliation.
There have been some reasonable concerns with shield law proposals in the past that try to define who is, and who is not, a journalist. Those laws would likely be unconstitutional in trying to designate who gets more protections, as it would essentially allow the government to decide who counts as a “real” journalist deserving of First Amendment rights. To me, the easiest solution was just to focus on the acts, not the job. Was the source used for “an act of journalism?” If so, then you should not be forced to give up their info.
With that backdrop, the Committee to Protect Journalists (which does amazing work) has been urging Congress to get on with it and pass the law. Following the election, CPJ’s CEO Jodie Ginsburg went on PBS to talk up the importance of the PRESS Act, specifically in how a Trump administration could attack, spy on, and intimidate the press and whistleblowers without it.
Apparently, someone sent that video to Trump as he then posted about it on Truth Social, demanding that Republicans in Congress “must kill” the bill
Trump’s tantrum here is tantamount to an admission that, of course, he intends to intimidate and threaten journalists and try to force them to cough up info on whistleblowers. It should be extremely alarming for the next president to brazenly announce his intent to undermine core First Amendment principles. He’s flat out admitting that he’s planning to do all sorts of bad shit to journalists and he wants to keep the law from getting in the way.
This is yet another fantastic example of how every accusation is a confession with the far right MAGA movement. The accusations are, of course, that there is this grand conspiracy by the government to control your speech on the internet. Now that Trump is in the process of becoming the next US president, he has signalled, yet again, that he plans on doing exactly what he accused others of doing. That is, using the power of government to silence all criticism.
It’s worth pointing out that Trump is not yet in office. That process is going to continue into January. Still, the signals he keeps sending is that he is no fan of free speech and is going to work hard to ensure the demise of that right within the US. We obviously don’t know how far he plans on taking his war on free speech, but we are watching for when the mass arrests start happening in the US for the crimes of criticizing the king. Still, this is another sign that we are heading in that direction.
Notice: We understand that the collapse of America can be distressing to some American readers, but help is available. If you are suffering from a mental health crisis, you can call 988 to talk to someone.
