[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17070]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF JOURNALISTS

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, journalists should be able to report the news 
without having to worry about getting arrested for not revealing their 
confidential sources. Our Nation needs a Federal shield law to further 
protect the freedom of speech and press.
  Recently, several journalists have been arrested and jailed for not 
disclosing their anonymous sources. These arrests did not occur in 
foreign countries run by dictators but happened here in America. 
Putting journalists in jail for not confessing their sources tramples 
on the Nation's freedom of speech and freedom of the press. These 
freedoms in the first amendment are first because, without them, the 
rest are meaningless.
  More than 30 States so far have passed laws that protect reporters 
from being required to testify and name confidential sources, but there 
is no Federal law.
  The job of a journalist is to report the news and not be an arm of 
the government or controlled by our government. Law enforcement 
officials should not force journalists to gather information or find 
witnesses.
  A free press means free and independent of government intrusion into 
the sources of reporters.
  Madam Speaker, the country needs a Federal shield law because, 
instead of getting a reporter arrested, the truth should set them free.
  And that's just the way it is.

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