Worth a read - the Court's not being flippant here, and "binding case law" shows that this issue has been debated in the past. Why take away this option from the Courts when they are treating it with significant respect?
As that doc shows, we're not talking about flippant abuse of freedom of the press here. We're talking about a case where Chen was *cleared of charges* and then over a year later this info was leaked to Herridge - basically to smear Chen when they couldn't touch her with a legal case, given that the investigation had been dropped.
That stinks to high heaven and the Court thought hard about it, applied a standard that they say when applied results in “the civil litigant’s interest in disclosure should yield to the
journalist’s privilege” in “all but the most exceptional cases.” I.e. unless things are really rotten, the first amendment freedom of the press wins and there is no disclosure, but when they simply analyze this case, it's one of the extremely exceptional ones. Which pretty much means "not the one to make a poster child as if it were a problematic repeated issue that should result in new law".
The law is called "Protect Reporterds from Exploitative State Spying"... when it seems to be enabling deep state spying if you ask me. That's why they are all happily lining up behind it.
Herridge is protecting GOVERMENT sources who leaked information about a purported investigation of a PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL. There needs to be a process by which such sources can be held accountable if the information is defamatory (i.e. false and damagingly so). Otherwise, we have it backwards here as to if we're even protecting individual rights or not. Don't I have the right to not be defamed by faceless government agents who by this PRESS Act law would be able to do it with impunity because they can't possibly be outed as sources?
If this law passes, do we create an even bigger monster than currently exists?
I can see Taibbi's 2028 outrage over anonymous government sources leaking that he is being investigated for taking photos of himself doing illegal things with Matt Gaetz's entourage. Oh no, you're not allowed to even probe who said that about you or if it's true! I don't think we're going to like that very much.
Thanks for this clarification - the article smelled like sloppy thinking at best, but I was struggling to get a handle on why - she’s conflating a lot of different situations which call for different types of response and pushing it all into a suspicious legislative “panacea” that actually lessens civil liberties - seems like an article to make people have an emotional freak-out and hit the D lever
Yes, read what I just wrote. I'm sure the Intelligence Community is 100% behind this - they can leak all the fudge they want and never be outed, even if the info is false as hell. That's the angle I'm seeing. We already know the press is a mouthpiece for the Deep State, what this act does is create more protections for the Deep State.
Upon reading this, I listened to the entire hearing online.
Why I support the Free Press with my hard-earned dollar was on full display. You and other outlets like yours, and people like Herridge, are the future and protectors of valid western Journalism.
I've always been impressed with Catherine Herridge and her bulldog-style of reporting. She appears to be paper thin, but has skin made of Kevlar. Where is the outcry from the media? CBS should be ashamed.
I am continually stunned that every member of the press corp isn't speaking up for Catherine Herridge. And that every news organization (except CBS) isn't trying to get her to work for them. I wish her all the best. She emanates quality.
Biden’s DOJ is completely out of control, as evidenced by their indictment of the surgeon whistleblower who reported on Texas Childrens Hospital continuing “gender affirming care”(medicine and surgeries) in violation of the law. They accuse him of violating HIPPA law, even though his reporting redacted personal identifying information.
Just to be clear- I support the revelations on TCH regarding their Gender surgeries. However, Dr. Haim accessed private medical information from patients that were not under his care which is a violation of HIPAA, as well as reactivating his access codes at TCH which may violate HIPAA as well as hospital policy. Based on the fact that we was exposing TCH for illegal activities I agree with, but his methods have now caused the DOJ to come after him with guns blazing, which in my opinion is overkill. I hope he can mount a good defense.
It would be nice if they were more concerned about the medicaid fraud. But, the White House is all in on child mutilation in the name of "gender identity".
We shouldn't need a new act , Freedom of the press is for the governed not the governers Hugo Back "A free press is not only important to democracy it is democracy . This is shameful
"I hope that I am the last journalist who has to spend two years or more in federal court defending confidential sources against the threat of contempt sanctions."
I don't think she will be! What about reporting the unfair treatment of Leahy for publishing lawfully obtained Audrey Hale diaries? He says he will go to jail rather than divulge his sources.
"Tennessee Star editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy unveiled the Nashville Covenant School mass shooter’s personal writings earlier this month, but no mainstream news outlets appear to have reported about the revelations, and only one has reported on the subsequent legal battle that Leahy faces for uncovering the documents.
Additionally, while journalists’ rights organizations traditionally would have provided counsel to a reporter like Leahy in court, few are willing to comment on the case, and Leahy is being represented by America First Legal and Daniel Horwitz, a Nashville-based attorney who focuses on the First Amendment.
Outlets such as Fox News, CNN, The New York Times, NBC News and Reuters have not published any articles regarding the writings of shooter Audrey Hale, a biological female who identified as a male, since Leahy first reported on the issue earlier this month. The Associated Press briefly reported on the matter, but only in regards to the court hearing that Leahy faced after publishing news articles about Hale’s writings.
Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles ordered Leahy to appear in court Monday to determine whether his outlet violated any of her court orders by publishing news stories about Hale’s writings."
"If a reporter lawfully obtains information through a source, any sanctions or contempt findings against that reporter “would be a rather clear violation of the First Amendment,” Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Just the News."
P.S. Hale was a 22 year psych patient at Vanderbilt. She told therapists she wanted to shoot up her old middle school. They did not report it to the police. In 2019 her psychologist recommended her for involuntary commitment. Instead, they gave her "intensive outpatient treatment".
Plus: "Reporter Tom Pappert: Vanderbilt University Medical Center Appears to an Incubator for Teens with Mental Health Problems to Turn into Adults with Gender Identity Issues"
Whatever level of responsibility a journalist is expected to carry, a publication should act as if has an orders of magnitude more. When CBS acts without sufficient cause, they damage themselves and the public trust first, and the individual journalist second. When they act so destructively I can only think it's because they live in the past, when their narrative was much easier to control.
For this same reason institutional trust is down across the board and causing us consumers to search for new centers of trust. I'm grateful that TFP is part of that and that Substack has become a vibrant and economically functional platform where it and others can incubate.
I hope the law passes. If not our government, full of lawyers, will always seek creative (diabolical) ways to pervert and abuse laws already on the books. Our government and the elites who make a habit of controlling information would love nothing more than to safeguard their nefarious activities by imposing a looming threat over the entire profession by making confidential sources reluctant to divulge info. They’ll have ways of making you talk. I commend Catherine for her steadfastness in not breaking the code.
But we need to ask the question—what constitutes a journalist? There is no card issued to you or an official notarized document making you one. Like a lot of other current things, “identifying” as a journalist is about all you need to do. It’s up to the individual to be a credible source for truth rather than a corporate government toady. The inherent journalistic trust that once upon a time made you believe you were being told the truth by the major news sources when there were so few compared to today is nearly non existent.
Despite her ongoing legal dilemma Ms. Herridge can count herself lucky to be an American journalist. Powerful countries, especially those involved in current conflicts abroad are simply assassinating journalists in droves who are threatening their official narratives. Thus we hear only one side of the story, and nothing but corporatized, sanitized news spoon fed to journalists far from the front to account for the other. The government has been stepping up the campaign of influence and force to control the media to their preferred narrative, in violation of the 1st Amendment and destroyed people’s reputations and livelihoods in the process. Thanks to Matt Taibbi and others exposing the Twitter Files for sending the government back to the drawing board to figure out a new corrupt SOP. No wonder there is a proliferation of highly reputable reporters fleeing to alt media to get the word out, who always did and still do respect source confidentiality. At the same time our government is encouraging whistleblowing on the GOOD guys —who blow the lid on assholes like Fauci and others—in an effort to protect reputations that are beyond the point of redemption.
Catherine, we are grateful to have a journalist like you, with high professional and moral qualities. Thank you.
Worth a read - the Court's not being flippant here, and "binding case law" shows that this issue has been debated in the past. Why take away this option from the Courts when they are treating it with significant respect?
https://webservices.courthousenews.com/sites/Data/AppellateOpinionUploads/2023-02-8--13-47-52-118cv3074.pdf
As that doc shows, we're not talking about flippant abuse of freedom of the press here. We're talking about a case where Chen was *cleared of charges* and then over a year later this info was leaked to Herridge - basically to smear Chen when they couldn't touch her with a legal case, given that the investigation had been dropped.
That stinks to high heaven and the Court thought hard about it, applied a standard that they say when applied results in “the civil litigant’s interest in disclosure should yield to the
journalist’s privilege” in “all but the most exceptional cases.” I.e. unless things are really rotten, the first amendment freedom of the press wins and there is no disclosure, but when they simply analyze this case, it's one of the extremely exceptional ones. Which pretty much means "not the one to make a poster child as if it were a problematic repeated issue that should result in new law".
The law is called "Protect Reporterds from Exploitative State Spying"... when it seems to be enabling deep state spying if you ask me. That's why they are all happily lining up behind it.
Herridge is protecting GOVERMENT sources who leaked information about a purported investigation of a PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL. There needs to be a process by which such sources can be held accountable if the information is defamatory (i.e. false and damagingly so). Otherwise, we have it backwards here as to if we're even protecting individual rights or not. Don't I have the right to not be defamed by faceless government agents who by this PRESS Act law would be able to do it with impunity because they can't possibly be outed as sources?
If this law passes, do we create an even bigger monster than currently exists?
I can see Taibbi's 2028 outrage over anonymous government sources leaking that he is being investigated for taking photos of himself doing illegal things with Matt Gaetz's entourage. Oh no, you're not allowed to even probe who said that about you or if it's true! I don't think we're going to like that very much.
Thanks for this clarification - the article smelled like sloppy thinking at best, but I was struggling to get a handle on why - she’s conflating a lot of different situations which call for different types of response and pushing it all into a suspicious legislative “panacea” that actually lessens civil liberties - seems like an article to make people have an emotional freak-out and hit the D lever
Yes it took me a long time to figure out what it was that was niggling me about this story.
What about going after the judge that issued the ruling.
Being somewhat cynical ( a survival mechanism) I find it hard to believe that the PRESS bill has so much bi-partisan support, unless it has no teeth
Yes, read what I just wrote. I'm sure the Intelligence Community is 100% behind this - they can leak all the fudge they want and never be outed, even if the info is false as hell. That's the angle I'm seeing. We already know the press is a mouthpiece for the Deep State, what this act does is create more protections for the Deep State.
Glad to see you writing here. I hope this can develop into something more long term with the FP.
Keep fighting the good fight Ms. Herridge, I always liked your reporting.
Upon reading this, I listened to the entire hearing online.
Why I support the Free Press with my hard-earned dollar was on full display. You and other outlets like yours, and people like Herridge, are the future and protectors of valid western Journalism.
Thank you for your courage and integrity. You are the real definition of "journalist."
I've always been impressed with Catherine Herridge and her bulldog-style of reporting. She appears to be paper thin, but has skin made of Kevlar. Where is the outcry from the media? CBS should be ashamed.
I am continually stunned that every member of the press corp isn't speaking up for Catherine Herridge. And that every news organization (except CBS) isn't trying to get her to work for them. I wish her all the best. She emanates quality.
Biden’s DOJ is completely out of control, as evidenced by their indictment of the surgeon whistleblower who reported on Texas Childrens Hospital continuing “gender affirming care”(medicine and surgeries) in violation of the law. They accuse him of violating HIPPA law, even though his reporting redacted personal identifying information.
Just to be clear- I support the revelations on TCH regarding their Gender surgeries. However, Dr. Haim accessed private medical information from patients that were not under his care which is a violation of HIPAA, as well as reactivating his access codes at TCH which may violate HIPAA as well as hospital policy. Based on the fact that we was exposing TCH for illegal activities I agree with, but his methods have now caused the DOJ to come after him with guns blazing, which in my opinion is overkill. I hope he can mount a good defense.
It would be nice if they were more concerned about the medicaid fraud. But, the White House is all in on child mutilation in the name of "gender identity".
But they will go after some poor private practitioner for clerical or billing errors.
I completely agree with you, Sara. And the FBI wanted to keep the Audrey Hale diaries from us and even suggested that the police destroy them. Please see: https://tennesseestar.com/covenant-school-shooting-investigation/ for recent reporting.
We shouldn't need a new act , Freedom of the press is for the governed not the governers Hugo Back "A free press is not only important to democracy it is democracy . This is shameful
Good on Catherine and TFP for support ing her efforts.
"I hope that I am the last journalist who has to spend two years or more in federal court defending confidential sources against the threat of contempt sanctions."
I don't think she will be! What about reporting the unfair treatment of Leahy for publishing lawfully obtained Audrey Hale diaries? He says he will go to jail rather than divulge his sources.
https://tennesseestar.com/news/tennessee-star-publisher-at-risk-over-of-mass-shooters-writings-but-establishment-media-press-advocates-eschew-story/jtnews/2024/06/19/
"Tennessee Star editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy unveiled the Nashville Covenant School mass shooter’s personal writings earlier this month, but no mainstream news outlets appear to have reported about the revelations, and only one has reported on the subsequent legal battle that Leahy faces for uncovering the documents.
Additionally, while journalists’ rights organizations traditionally would have provided counsel to a reporter like Leahy in court, few are willing to comment on the case, and Leahy is being represented by America First Legal and Daniel Horwitz, a Nashville-based attorney who focuses on the First Amendment.
Outlets such as Fox News, CNN, The New York Times, NBC News and Reuters have not published any articles regarding the writings of shooter Audrey Hale, a biological female who identified as a male, since Leahy first reported on the issue earlier this month. The Associated Press briefly reported on the matter, but only in regards to the court hearing that Leahy faced after publishing news articles about Hale’s writings.
Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles ordered Leahy to appear in court Monday to determine whether his outlet violated any of her court orders by publishing news stories about Hale’s writings."
"If a reporter lawfully obtains information through a source, any sanctions or contempt findings against that reporter “would be a rather clear violation of the First Amendment,” Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Just the News."
P.S. Hale was a 22 year psych patient at Vanderbilt. She told therapists she wanted to shoot up her old middle school. They did not report it to the police. In 2019 her psychologist recommended her for involuntary commitment. Instead, they gave her "intensive outpatient treatment".
Plus: "Reporter Tom Pappert: Vanderbilt University Medical Center Appears to an Incubator for Teens with Mental Health Problems to Turn into Adults with Gender Identity Issues"
https://tennesseestar.com/news/reporter-tom-pappert-vanderbilt-university-medical-center-appears-to-an-incubator-for-teens-with-mental-health-problems-to-turn-into-adults-with-gender-identity-issues/khousler/2024/06/23/
Vanderbilt needs to be investigated - not the guy reporting on the issues.
Whatever level of responsibility a journalist is expected to carry, a publication should act as if has an orders of magnitude more. When CBS acts without sufficient cause, they damage themselves and the public trust first, and the individual journalist second. When they act so destructively I can only think it's because they live in the past, when their narrative was much easier to control.
For this same reason institutional trust is down across the board and causing us consumers to search for new centers of trust. I'm grateful that TFP is part of that and that Substack has become a vibrant and economically functional platform where it and others can incubate.
I hope the law passes. If not our government, full of lawyers, will always seek creative (diabolical) ways to pervert and abuse laws already on the books. Our government and the elites who make a habit of controlling information would love nothing more than to safeguard their nefarious activities by imposing a looming threat over the entire profession by making confidential sources reluctant to divulge info. They’ll have ways of making you talk. I commend Catherine for her steadfastness in not breaking the code.
But we need to ask the question—what constitutes a journalist? There is no card issued to you or an official notarized document making you one. Like a lot of other current things, “identifying” as a journalist is about all you need to do. It’s up to the individual to be a credible source for truth rather than a corporate government toady. The inherent journalistic trust that once upon a time made you believe you were being told the truth by the major news sources when there were so few compared to today is nearly non existent.
Despite her ongoing legal dilemma Ms. Herridge can count herself lucky to be an American journalist. Powerful countries, especially those involved in current conflicts abroad are simply assassinating journalists in droves who are threatening their official narratives. Thus we hear only one side of the story, and nothing but corporatized, sanitized news spoon fed to journalists far from the front to account for the other. The government has been stepping up the campaign of influence and force to control the media to their preferred narrative, in violation of the 1st Amendment and destroyed people’s reputations and livelihoods in the process. Thanks to Matt Taibbi and others exposing the Twitter Files for sending the government back to the drawing board to figure out a new corrupt SOP. No wonder there is a proliferation of highly reputable reporters fleeing to alt media to get the word out, who always did and still do respect source confidentiality. At the same time our government is encouraging whistleblowing on the GOOD guys —who blow the lid on assholes like Fauci and others—in an effort to protect reputations that are beyond the point of redemption.