“A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for assault against journalists, and for other purposes.”
This bill establishes new criminal offenses for intentional acts (or attempts to commit acts) that cause bodily injury to a journalist.
This section establishes a new federal crime at 18 U.S.C. § 120 for intentionally assaulting a journalist in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce. It imposes penalties of a fine, up to three years' imprisonment, or both for causing bodily injury to a journalist (i.e., as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1365(h)) with knowledge of the individual's status, while the journalist engages in newsgathering (i.e., gathering, preparing, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing news of public interest) or with intent to intimidate or impede such activity; penalties increase to a fine, up to six years' imprisonment, or both for causing serious bodily injury. The term journalist covers employees, contractors, or agents of news-disseminating entities (e.g., newspapers, websites, broadcasters, multichannel video programming distributors) primarily engaged in newsgathering for public dissemination.