US law to identify governments violating press freedom
WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama signed a law requiring the State Department each year to chronicle the observance of press freedom across the globe and single out governments that condone or facilitate press repression.
The new measure, called the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009, sends a strong message the US government is paying attention to how other governments are operating when it comes to the press, Obama said on Monday.
“Oftentimes without this kind of attention, countries and governments feel that they can operate against the press with impunity. And we want to send a message that they can’t,” he said.
The Press Act amends the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to expand the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices to identify countries where press freedom violations occur and actions taken by respective governments to safeguard the media and bring to justice those who attack or murder journalists.
The act has been named after Daniel Pearl, an American journalist kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.
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