G:\M\15\SWALWE\SWALWE_036.XML ..................................................................... (Original Signature of Member) H. R. ll 115TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for assault against journalists, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. SWALWELL of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on llllllllllllll A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a penalty for assault against journalists, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Journalist Protection 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. ASSAULT AGAINST JOURNALISTS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: g:\VHLC\122017\122017.104.xml December 20, 2017 (1:38 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:38 Dec 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (682791 8) PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SWALWE~1. G:\M\15\SWALWE\SWALWE_036.XML 2 1 ‘‘§ 120. Assault against journalists 2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, in or affecting inter- 3 state or foreign commerce, intentionally commits, or at4 tempts to commit— 5 ‘‘(1) an act described in subsection (b) shall be 6 fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 7 3 years, or both; or 8 ‘‘(2) an act described in subsection (c) shall be 9 fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 6 years, or both. 11 ‘‘(b) BODILY INJURY TO A JOURNALIST.—An act de- 12 scribed in this subsection is an act that causes a bodily 13 injury to an individual— 14 ‘‘(1) who is a journalist; 15 ‘‘(2) committed with knowledge or reason to 16 know such individual is a journalist; and 17 ‘‘(3) committed— 18 ‘‘(A) while such journalist is taking part in 19 newsgathering; or 20 ‘‘(B) with the intention of intimidating or 21 22 impeding newsgathering by such journalist. ‘‘(c) SERIOUS BODILY INJURY TO A JOURNALIST.— 23 An act described in this subsection is an act that causes 24 a serious bodily injury to an individual— 25 ‘‘(1) who is a journalist; g:\VHLC\122017\122017.104.xml December 20, 2017 (1:38 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:38 Dec 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (682791 8) PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SWALWE~1. G:\M\15\SWALWE\SWALWE_036.XML 3 1 2 ‘‘(2) committed with knowledge or reason to know such individual is a journalist; and 3 ‘‘(3) committed— 4 ‘‘(A) while such journalist is taking part in 5 newsgathering; or 6 ‘‘(B) with the intention of intimidating or 7 8 impeding newsgathering by such journalist. ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 9 ‘‘(1) BODILY term ‘bodily injury’ 10 has the meaning given such term in section 11 1365(h)(4) of this title. 12 13 ‘‘(2) JOURNALIST.—The term ‘journalist’ means an individual who— 14 ‘‘(A) is an employee, independent con- 15 tractor, or agent of an entity or service that 16 disseminates news or information— 17 ‘‘(i) by means of a newspaper, nonfic- 18 tion book, wire service, news agency, news 19 website, mobile application or other news 20 or information service (whether distributed 21 digitally or otherwise), news program, 22 magazine, or other periodical (whether in 23 print, electronic, or other format); or 24 ‘‘(ii) 25 13:38 Dec 20, 2017 through television broadcast, radio broadcast, multichannel video pro- g:\VHLC\122017\122017.104.xml December 20, 2017 (1:38 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 INJURY.—The Jkt 000000 (682791 8) PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SWALWE~1. G:\M\15\SWALWE\SWALWE_036.XML 4 1 gramming distributor (as such term is de- 2 fined in section 602(13) of the Commu- 3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(13)), 4 or motion picture for public showing; and 5 ‘‘(B) with the primary intent to investigate 6 events or procure material in order to dissemi- 7 nate to the public news or information con- 8 cerning local, national, or international events 9 or other matters of public interest, engages in 10 newsgathering. 11 ‘‘(3) NEWSGATHERING.—The term 12 ‘newsgathering’ means engaging in the regular gath- 13 ering, preparation, collection, photographing, record- 14 ing, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing con- 15 cerning local, national, or international events or 16 other matters of public interest. 17 ‘‘(4) SERIOUS BODILY INJURY.—The term ‘seri- 18 ous bodily injury’ has the meaning given such term 19 in section 1365(h)(3) of this title.’’. 20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 21 for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 22 by adding at the end the following: ‘‘120. Assault against journalists.’’. g:\VHLC\122017\122017.104.xml December 20, 2017 (1:38 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 13:38 Dec 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (682791 8) PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SWALWE~1.