All the President's Vengeance: Why the Senate Must Pass the PRESS Act

Free Press Action believes in fixing our ailing media system. That means holding news outlets accountable for normalizing Donald Trump and failing to place the stakes of the 2024 election in the context of rising authoritarianism. However — and this is a distinction many on the right willfully ignore — we will still defend press freedom even when we dislike a given newsroom’s coverage.

That’s why Free Press Action supports swift passage of the “Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying” or “PRESS” Act. This bill — which the U.S. House of Representatives passed earlier this year in a rare moment of unanimous bipartisan agreement — would shield journalists and whistleblowers from government surveillance. If the Senate doesn’t pass it soon, the bill will expire at the end of the year … with effectively zero chance of passing once Trump’s vindictive politics consume the nation’s capital.

As it is, the legislation faces an uphill battle. During a break from appointing Project 2025 conspirators to key administrative positions, the president-elect weighed in on the PRESS Act: “REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!” is his message to the Senate, because he sees the press as his personal enemy and as a threat to his dictatorial vision for this country.

In other words, Trump is calling for the death of press freedom after calling for the death of journalists themselves on the campaign trail. Reelection has only emboldened him: Trump is beginning to wield the tools of the state to turn his dehumanizing, destabilizing rhetoric into reality.

Who watches the watchdogs?

Meanwhile, the Nov. 21 House passage of H.R. 9495 — legislation that would allow the executive branch to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit in the country and unilaterally label it a “terrorist supporting organization” — means the Senate could take up that bill soon. With two bills on the table — and little time left on the congressional calendar — momentum is behind the wrong piece of legislation. Where the PRESS Act would shield journalists from governmental interference, H.R. 9495 would enable the government to intimidate and punish nonprofit newsrooms.

Too many media institutions are capitulating to Trump before he even takes office, placing their selfish fears above their duty to protect the rest of us. A society hoping to preserve some semblance of democracy cannot afford for its press to preemptively give in — particularly as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s “Department of Government Efficiency” aims to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This would decimate public media to undercut the kind of investigative journalism that could help hold the Trump administration accountable. A party-controlled media system — through slashed budgets and a chilling culture of fear — is a hallmark of former democratic societies around the world … and a grim marker of the United States’ current trajectory.

At Trump’s direction, the combined advancement of H.R. 9495 and stalling of the PRESS Act amounts to a consolidation of authoritarian power. Time is running out to enact legislative safeguards for essential civil liberties and for our right to dissenting speech — urge the Senate to pass the PRESS Act before it’s too late.

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