'Not The Proper Forum...': Jerry Nadler Blasts Judiciary Hearing With Fired CBS Reporter

8 months ago

AT a House Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) spoke about freedom of the press.

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Transcript

00:00 his opening statement.

00:00 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, over the course of the last two decades,

00:08 repeated overzealous prosecution of leaks to the press have made it clear that Congress needs to

00:14 enact a federal reporter's shield law. Congress must protect journalists from being compelled to

00:19 reveal their confidential sources in order to ensure the free flow of information and matters

00:24 related to the public interest. During the 117th Congress, when I was chairman of the committee,

00:30 we came together in a bipartisan vote to pass the Press Act, which would protect journalists and

00:35 their confidential sources from compelled disclosure, except in certain rare circumstances.

00:41 It later passed the House in similar bipartisan fashion. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act on

00:46 the bill. I was pleased, however, when the committee, under Chairman Jordan's leadership,

00:51 built on this strong action and moved the Press Act once again in this Congress

00:54 in a unanimous vote of 23 to nothing. It again passed the House by voice vote.

01:01 I think even a casual observer of the 118th Congress understands just how rare it is

01:06 for me, Chairman Jordan, and practically the entire House all to agree on the need for the

01:12 same piece of legislation. We have repeatedly come together to advance an important bill

01:17 on a bipartisan basis, and we continue to share the goal of seeing this legislation become law.

01:23 That is why it is disappointing that, according to news reports, this hearing has not really been

01:28 called to serve as a forum for building greater support for the bill, as the title of the hearing

01:33 might suggest. Instead, it appears that its true purpose is to provide a forum to discuss allegations

01:40 that Chairman Jordan has made surrounding the termination of one of our witnesses

01:44 by a news organization and to advance a false narrative about media bias.

01:48 I am sympathetic to anyone who has been abruptly laid off from the job, and I understand the

01:53 resentment that someone can feel against their former employer. In fact, CBS laid off 800 people,

02:01 one of whom happened to be a close personal friend of mine.

02:04 But even if any allegations of so-called political bias made today are true, and to be clear, I have

02:11 no reason to believe that they are, Congress is not the proper forum for these personal grievances

02:17 to be aired or resolved. As we listen to the testimony today, we should remember that news

02:22 media organizations have their own First Amendment rights, which include the right to exercise

02:27 editorial judgment about what does and does not get reported as news. News media organizations

02:34 also ultimately speak or act through their employees and agents. Barring some other unlawful

02:42 reason for termination, like race or sex discrimination, Congress does not have the

02:47 authority to meddle in the relationship between reporters and their employing news organizations,

02:52 especially if it is to intervene in a purported conflict over what story to investigate or not

02:59 to investigate. To do so would, in my view, run afoul of the First Amendment. Indeed, some might

03:05 even say that this very hearing is an example of the government jawboning the news media over

03:10 its coverage or lack of coverage of a particular subject and an improper intrusion into the affairs

03:16 of the press. If the history of overwhelming bipartisan support for the Press Act is any

03:21 indication, I would hope that we have universal agreement on the dais that the government should

03:26 respect the independence of the free press and that we should continue our work to protect

03:31 journalists from being compelled to reveal their sources. That is where our focus should properly

03:36 lie. We should be jawboning the real barrier to achieving important protection for press freedom,

03:41 the United States Senate, which for the fourth time is sitting on federal reporters' shield

03:49 legislation that the House passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion. Thank you,

03:54 Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.

03:56 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

03:59 I thank the Ranking Member for his opening statement. Without objection, all other opening

04:04 statements will be included in the record. We will now introduce today's witnesses.

04:08 Ms. Katherine Harridge.

04:10 Ms. Harridge is an award-winning

'Not The Proper Forum...': Jerry Nadler Blasts Judiciary Hearing With Fired CBS Reporter

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