Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a longtime critic of government surveillance programs, proposed legislation Monday designed to protect journalists’ data from government subpoenas in the wake of recent admissions by the Justice Department that investigators seized reporters’ records hoping to identify sources. The bill, called Protect Reporters from Excessive State Suppression (PRESS) Act, goes further than past efforts to create a federal shield law for reporters and safeguard their phone and email records, which are often held by third-party service providers.
An appeals court is set to rule on whether premium, subscriber-based news organizations should have the same protection as a traditional media company.
The A&E reality show Married at First Sight — which weds strangers — is trying to use a shield law reserved for journalists to quash a subpoena by a Queens woman who went on the cable program then allegedly received death threats from her random groom.
