Press freedom

Legislation named in honor of Wall Street Journal reporter killed on the job in Pakistan

October 1, 2009 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) today introduced the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, legislation that would direct the State Department to include information relating to freedom of the press worldwide in annual country reports on human rights practices.

The legislation is named in honor of Wall Street Journal South Asia Bureau Chief Daniel Pearl, who in 2002 was kidnapped and brutally murdered by extremists in Pakistan. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 742 journalists have been killed on duty since the organization began tracking these crimes in 1992.    » read more »

Senate Unanimously Passes Kaufman Resolution Supporting a Free Press and Free Speech in Iran

June 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Senate passed a resolution introduced by Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) and co-sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) that reinforces the universal values of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and supports the Iranian people as they take steps to peacefully express their voices, opinions, and aspirations in the aftermath of the June 12th election.

The resolution also condemns censorship and intimidation of the press in Iran, and pledges support to the Iranian people seeking access to news and other forms of information.    » read more »

April 7, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) sent the following letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling on her to condemn a recent ruling by a prominent Saudi cleric against two Saudi journalists for reporting what he considered heretical articles.

Barack Obama mural, Brooklyn: Photo by Erica (CC)

According to recent reports, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak issued a fatwa last month stating that two journalists should be put to death if they did not retract their articles. Last week, over 100 Arab rights groups also condemned the fatwa.    » read more »

31 March 2008 -- A U.S.-based press freedom organization has criticized Venezuela's growing restrictions on freedom of the press, Cuba's jailing of journalists and U.S. court pressure on reporters to reveal confidential sources.

The Inter American Press Association wrapped up its midyear meeting Sunday in Caracas with a statement that accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of using attacks and intimidation to curb criticism of his government.

Last year Mr. Chavez refused to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television and replaced it with a state-run channel that airs government propaganda.

The IAPA also said Cuba's detention of 25 journalists amounted to a demonstration of total intolerance.    » read more »

January 24, 2008 -- Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is giving high praise today to the Utah Supreme Court for adopting the state’s first reporter privilege rule. The Utah Supreme Court adopted the draft of Rule 509 Reporter Privilege, a proposal that had been supported by the Attorney General. Shurtleff has been working with legislators, prosecutors, journalists and the Supreme Court for the past two and a half years to come up with a workable and reasonable rule that would allow reporters to protect confidential informants.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. --- January 18, 2008 -- Freedom in the Middle East took a step backwards in 2007, Freedom House reported in a worldwide survey of freedom released yesterday.    » read more »

Joint statement by competitors shows alarm at deteriorating conditions

18 January 2008 -- Washington -- In response to growing challenges in reaching their audiences around the world, the five most influential international broadcasters have joined together for the first time to condemn what they describe as the “grave and rising threats to the right to gather information and communicate it across national borders.”    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- November 15, 2007 -- The closure of three independent radio stations by the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) earlier this week has left war-torn Mogadishu virtually devoid of reliable media outlets as the situation in Somalia becomes increasingly desperate, Freedom House said today.

The station closures coincide with the arrests of human rights activists Ali Farah Mohammed and Amir Hashi Ibrahim of the Center for Peace and Democracy (CPD), a human rights organization in Mogadishu that was also temporarily closed earlier this week.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) again today urged the Senate to consider important legislation to protect the public’s right to know by shielding the flow of information between reporters and their confidential sources.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- November 7, 2007 -- The Turkish government is strongly encouraged to follow through on stated commitments to amend a restrictive speech law, Freedom House said today.    » read more »

16 October 2007 -- A new survey on press freedom ranks the isolated nation of Eritrea worst among 169 countries. As Nick Wadhams reports from Nairobi, the Horn of Africa country gained the dubious distinction after four reporters were said to have died in prison.

The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says President Isias Afewerki's government has outlawed the privately owned press and continues to jail reporters who speak out.    » read more »

G8 members, except Russia, recover lost ground; Bloggers now threatened as much as journalists in traditional media

October 16, 2007 -- Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running.    » read more »

Journalists in United States protected from defamation suits

20 September 2007 -- Washington –- Press freedom advocates are expressing concern that many governments worldwide are jailing reporters on specious charges of defaming or insulting heads of state.    » read more »

Monday, September 10, 2007 -- U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Richard Lugar (R-IN), today introduced the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007. The Act seeks to protect the public’s right to information and a free press by providing appropriate protections to reporters and their employers in order to protect confidential sources while ensuring effective law enforcement.    » read more »

Budapest, Hungary, August 17, 2007 -- The Budapest-based human rights organization Freedom House Europe today strongly condemned the closing down of the International Youth Human Rights Movement (YHRM) by a Nizhniy Novgorod court at the demand of Russia’s Federal Registration Service (FRS).    » read more »