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S 1601119th CongressIntroduced

Journalist Protection Act

Introduced: Oct 28, 2025
Standard Summary
Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

S. 1601 amends Title 18 to criminalize assault on journalists, defining journalists and setting penalties up to six years.

Key Points

  • 1Defines a journalist as an individual engaged in newsgathering for news or information dissemination.
  • 2Adds a new subsection to Title 18 criminalizing bodily injury or serious bodily injury to a journalist during newsgathering.
  • 3Sets penalties of up to 3 years for bodily injury and up to 6 years for serious bodily injury, with fines.
  • 4Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to maintain the updated section.

Impact Areas

Journalists and media organizations.Law enforcement and prosecutors handling assault cases.Public and press freedom advocates.
Generated by openai/gpt-oss-20b:free on Nov 20, 2025