Journalist Protection Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 751 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for assault against journalists, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 12, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for assault against journalists, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Journalist Protection 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ASSAULT AGAINST JOURNALISTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 751 IS ‘‘§ 120. Assault against journalists 1 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 2 ‘‘(1) BODILY INJURY; SERIOUS BODILY IN- 3 JURY.—The terms ‘bodily injury’ and ‘serious bodily 4 injury’ have the meanings given those terms in sec- 5 tion 1365(h). 6 ‘‘(2) JOURNALIST.—The term ‘journalist’ 7 means an individual who— 8 ‘‘(A) is an employee, independent con- 9 tractor, or agent of an entity or service that 10 disseminates news or information— 11 ‘‘(i) by means of a newspaper, nonfic- 12 tion book, wire service, news agency, news 13 website, mobile application or other news 14 or information service (whether distributed 15 digitally or otherwise), news program, 16 magazine, or other periodical (whether in 17 print, electronic, or other format); or 18 ‘‘(ii) through a television broadcast, 19 radio broadcast, multichannel video pro- 20 gramming distributor (as defined in section 21 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 22 (47 U.S.C. 522)), or motion picture for 23 public showing; and 24 ‘‘(B) engages in newsgathering with the 25 primary intent to investigate an event or pro- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 751 IS cure material in order to disseminate to the 1 public news or information concerning a local, 2 national, or international event or other matter 3 of public interest. 4 ‘‘(3) NEWSGATHERING.—The term 5 ‘newsgathering’ means engaging in regular gath- 6 ering, preparation, collection, photographing, record- 7 ing, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing con- 8 cerning a local, national, or international event or 9 other matter of public interest. 10 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITED CONDUCT.—Whoever, in or affect- 11 ing interstate or foreign commerce, intentionally commits, 12 or attempts to commit— 13 ‘‘(1) an act described in subsection (c) shall be 14 fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 3 years, or both; or 16 ‘‘(2) an act described in subsection (d) shall be 17 fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 18 6 years, or both. 19 ‘‘(c) BODILY INJURY TO A JOURNALIST.—An act de- 20 scribed in this subsection is an act— 21 ‘‘(1) that causes bodily injury to an individual 22 who is a journalist; 23 ‘‘(2) committed with knowledge or reason to 24 know the individual is a journalist; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 751 IS ‘‘(3) committed— 1 ‘‘(A) while the journalist is taking part in 2 newsgathering; or 3 ‘‘(B) with the intention of intimidating or 4 impeding newsgathering by the journalist. 5 ‘‘(d) SERIOUS BODILY INJURY TO A JOURNALIST.— 6 An act described in this subsection is an act— 7 ‘‘(1) that causes serious bodily injury to an in- 8 dividual who is a journalist; 9 ‘‘(2) committed with knowledge or reason to 10 know the individual is a journalist; and 11 ‘‘(3) committed— 12 ‘‘(A) while the journalist is taking part in 13 newsgathering; or 14 ‘‘(B) with the intention of intimidating or 15 impeding newsgathering by the journalist.’’. 16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 17 for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 18 by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘120. Assault against journalists.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:02 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S751.IS S751 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS