Can the President Prosecute the Press? What Journalists Can (and Can’t) Be Forced to Reveal
SmartHERNews
Jenna Lee
4.9 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 8 April 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The President says he wants to go after those who leaked information about a rescue operation in Iran - Can he?
Jenna takes you to a portion of a White House press conference that drew attention after the president blamed press reporting and a leaker for revealing a second missing airman during a rescue operation in Iran, saying the media company should give up the source “or go to jail.”
She clarifies that while there is legal precedent for the government to pursue the leaker, she knows of no precedent for prosecuting a media organization for publishing accurate (or even inaccurate) information, and notes protections for journalists vary: most states have shield laws, but there is no federal shield law.
She cites the Iraq War-era case in which New York Times journalist Judith Miller was jailed 85 days for contempt after refusing to reveal sources, but leads us to a larger ethical questions about reporting sensitive details during national security events.
Plus - Jenna shares her grandfather's reporter's handbook - from his time embedded with U.S. forces during WWII.
What do you think about his responsibilities as a member of the press?
00:00 Press Freedom Question
00:26 Trump Leak Threat Clip
01:19 Rescue Mission Context
03:36 Who Is He Targeting
05:23 Journalist Protections Explained
07:54 No Federal Shield Law
08:34 Judith Miller Case Study
11:27 State vs Federal Subpoenas
14:15 Ethics vs Legality
17:01 WWII Censorship Rules
20:23 What Free Press Means Now
21:15 Wrap Up and Support
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Scoop, where you get the scoop on this week's news. My name is Jenna, and this is Smarter News. |
| 0:14.6 | Can the president prosecute the press? What protections do journalists actually have in America? Hi, everybody. I'm Jenna. This is |
| 0:22.9 | Smarter News. And we're all about quick and concise, nonpartisan information. And we love a free press, |
| 0:28.6 | which is why when the president said this on Monday, we sat up and paid attention. Take a listen. |
| 0:35.9 | But these two extraordinary rescues, because it was two, and as you probably know, we didn't |
| 0:41.1 | talk about the first one for an hour, then somebody leaked something, which will hopefully |
| 0:46.8 | find that leaker. We're looking very hard to find that leaker, and talked about there's somebody |
| 0:53.1 | missing. They basically said that we have one, and there's somebody missing. They basically said that we have one and there's somebody missing. |
| 0:58.0 | Well, they didn't know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information. |
| 1:02.0 | So whoever it was, we think we'll be able to find it out because we're going to go to the media company that released it |
| 1:10.0 | and we're going to say, national security, give it up or go to jail, |
| 1:15.6 | and we know who, and you know who we're talking about. |
| 1:19.5 | Wait a minute, just for a moment here. Let me catch you up. So the president's talking for |
| 1:23.0 | the very first time in a press conference at the White House. He's giving details about an operation that led to |
| 1:28.8 | the rescue of two airmen shot down over the skies of Iran, found behind enemy lines. And he's |
| 1:36.3 | giving again the detail that we have not heard up until this point. He mentions that the press |
| 1:42.5 | is the reason why the world knew about a second person. |
| 1:47.4 | This is the weapons service officer that was also missing. |
| 1:51.4 | And he really is pointing at the press saying, without you guys reporting this, without this |
| 1:56.3 | leaker, no one would know about this. |
| 1:59.2 | Let's listen a little bit more. |
| 2:00.4 | He did that all of a sudden, the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life. |
... |
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