SAG-AFTRA Urges Congress to Pass Press Shield Law

SAG-AFTRA is backing a bill that would protect the rights of journalists, their sources, and the public’s right to know. The Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying, or PRESS Act, would ensure journalists may protect their sources by keeping confidential the identity of any person who reveals information to them.

 The union has long advocated for a federal shield law,and on April 11, SAG-AFTRA Chief Broadcast Officer Mary Cavallaro testified before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. 

“Government intrusion upon the relationship between a reporter and their sources undermines the foundation of the freedom of the press. A free press is essential to our democracy. To quote Walter Cronkite, a longtime SAG-AFTRA member, ‘Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy,’” she said. 

SAG-AFTRA unreservedly champions the PRESS Act to ensure that reporters’ and editors’ communications with whistleblowers and other critical sources remain confidential and that freedom of the press is unencumbered as enshrined in the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution.

This item originally featured in the SAG-AFTRA spring 2024 magazine issue