2018 CWA District 9 Leadership Conference in Hawaii: “This is a dangerous time to be a journalist”
Khai Le
May 22, 2018: "Week after week, President Trump and this Administration seem to break new ground in their attacks on the press. The president and his cabinet officials view the free press as the enemy. CNN and the Associated Press were barred from entering an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) summit on water contamination where Administrator Scott Pruitt was speaking. When a reporter asked questions about why she was prohibited entry, she was forcibly removed by security guards.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 25th 2018 Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) filed a bill in the Senate that would make it a federal crime to assault a journalist. A similar bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Eric Swalwell of California in February of this year. Unions representing 30,000 reporters, photographers, and broadcast employees are praising the bill. News Guild President Bernie Lunzer said, “The Journalist Protection Act addresses a real need. This is a dangerous time to be a journalist.”
“NABET members are easy and tempting prey for anti-media extremists and thieves because they often work in the field alone or with just one other person. They also carry equipment that’s expensive and cumbersome,” said NABET Sector President Charlie Braico. He also said, “The Journalist Protection Act will permit the authorities to properly punish people who attempt to interfere with our members as they work in dynamic and challenging newsgathering situations,”
The bill would make it a federal crime to intentionally cause bodily injury to a journalist engaged in reporting or with the intention of intimidating the journalist or impeding newsgathering. It calls for punishment of up to six years in prison.
By Louis Gabriele