|
Washington, DC -- Congressman David Davis voted today in favor of the Free Flow of Information Act, which will protect journalists’ from testifying except in certain circumstances.
“Today, I joined with my colleagues across the aisle in supporting this useful legislation,” Congressman David Davis said. “This is great legislation for the protection of our journalist who work tirelessly for their respective communities.”
H.R. 2102 establishes new federal protections for journalists and specific criteria that federal entities must meet in order to compel a journalist to testify or to produce any documents related to information obtained or created by that journalist as part of engaging in journalism.
The criteria that a federal entity must meet in order to compel a journalist’s testimony includes: providing that the testimony or document that is critical to the prosecution’s investigation or proving that the testimony is necessary to prevent an act of terrorism against the United States. If neither of these conditions are met, then the journalist may not be compelled to provide testimony.
“The protection for journalist is secondary to our national security,” Congressman Davis said. “We must keep a vigilant watch and sometimes our journalists will have necessary information to protect our nation.”
H.R. 2102 passed the U.S. House of Representatives 398 to 21.
|