WASHINGTON, 09 April. - (ANA) - Donald Trump has threatened to jail a reporter who published leaked information that a US pilot shot down over Iran had been rescued and that a second airman was missing.

 

The US president said that his administration was looking “very hard” to find whoever told the reporter, but if the journalist did not reveal their source, they would be sent to prison.

 

“Iran didn’t know somebody was missing until a leaker gave the information,” the US president said at a press conference. “We have to find that leaker, because that’s a sick person … It’s national security. And the person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say … They put this mission at great risk.

 

“We are going to go to the media company that published it and we are going to say, ‘National security’ – give it up or go to jail.”

 

Mr Trump did not specify which outlet he was referring to, but it is believed that CBS first broke the news just after midnight on Friday.

 

The piece started: “A US F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran on Friday, and one crew member from the plane was later rescued by American forces, US officials confirmed to CBS News.”

 

It continued: “The F-15E is flown by a two-member crew, and the search for the second crew member, a weapons system officer, is continuing, two U.S. officials said.”

 

In all, “officials” were quoted six times in the opening four paragraphs.

 

“There’s some things you can’t do, because when they did that, all of a sudden, the entire country of Iran knew there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life,” Mr Trump said.

 

“It also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him; all of a sudden they know that there’s somebody out there.”

 

In America, reporters are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press, allowing them to gather and disseminate news, but it is not an absolute shield.

 

There is no federal law protecting confidential sources.

 

This year, FBI agents searched the home of Hannah Natanson, a Washington Post reporter,, seizing two phones, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive and a Garmin watch, which suggested they may have wanted to check her movements.

 

The warrant was executed as part of an investigation into a Pentagon contractor who was accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.

 

Ms Natanson was reporting on Mr Trump’s campaign to fire hundreds of thousands of federal workers and shift remaining workers to implement his agenda.

 

“The outrageous seizure of our reporter’s confidential newsgathering materials chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on these materials,” the Post said in a statement.

 

Over the years, various administrations have sought to put pressure on members of the media to reveal their secret sources.

 

In 2005, Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter, was sent to jail for 85 days after refusing to give up details of her source amid an investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent.

 

It later emerged her long-time source was Scooter Libby, the chief of staff to Dick Cheney, the vice-president. He was sentenced to 30 months in jail, but his sentence was commuted by George W Bush, the then US president.

 

In 2023, Catherine Herridge, a CBS investigative reporter, had a legal battle after she came under pressure to reveal who provided her details of what was stored on Hunter Biden’s laptop.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/09 April 2026 - - -