The Free Press: Catherine Herridge speaks on protecting sources

I hope I’m the last American journalist who has to spend years in federal court defending confidential sources. That’s why I support the PRESS Act.

By Catherine Herridge

June 23, 2024

If confidential sources are not protected, investigative journalism will die. 

I know that sounds overly dramatic, and I know you’ve probably heard it a million times. But it’s true. I’ve been a TV correspondent for three networks—Fox, CBS, and ABC—across four decades.

I’ve broken my share of stories about government wrongdoing, and I know for a fact that if I hadn’t been able to offer my sources a credible pledge of confidentiality, they never would have divulged information that was being kept from the public.

Like the story I wrote in 2021, to take just one example, about how the Trump administration wrongly denied Purple Hearts to over 40 soldiers because President Trump didn’t want to acknowledge the severity of Iran’s ballistic missile attack on a U.S. base in Iraq. 

Any investigative reporter will tell you the same thing: forcing a journalist to disclose confidential sources will have a crippling effect on effective investigative journalism in this country. The First Amendment provides protections for the press because an informed electorate is essential for robust debate and a strong democracy. 

But what happens when you find yourself dragged into a lawsuit, ordered to divulge your sources, and held in contempt when you refuse?

Read Catherine’s latest piece on the Free Press substack. Here’s the CTL Tribune’s Catherine Herridge pledge (also located on the main page under “About”).