During the past several years, more than 30 reporters have been subpoenaed or questioned in federal court proceedings about confidential sources.

Federal prosecutors are attempting to force journalists to reveal their sources rather than finding the wrongdoers through their own investigations into reported activities. They have used the threat of jail to pressure reporters into violating the promises of confidentiality they made to their sources as a condition of receiving the information at the core of their stories and at the core of the criminal investigation. In some instances, reporters have in fact been jailed for keeping their promises not to divulge the identity of sources. These actions inevitably have a chilling effect on the willingness of reporters to rely on confidential sources and the willingness of sources to speak with reporters.

Action is needed to protect thepromise of confidentiality between reporters and their sources from this unprecedented series of federal government challenges. The public's right to know hangs in the balance because if the identity of sources is not protected, many matters of public importance will not become known. Public corruption and corporate misdeeds will go uncorrected.

By protecting reporters and their confidential sources, the Free Flow of Information Act will encourage whistleblowers to talk to journalists and expose wrongdoing. It will ensure that journalists can continue to do what they have done since our nation's founding - to exercise the freedom of the press to bring to light information on the most important issues of the day. As Thomas Jefferson recognized, our liberty and our democracy are dependent on a free and fully functioning press. Our bill will help underpin this nation's tradition of honoring press freedom as a hallmark of our open and informed society.