Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- New Guatemalan president must work hard to improve press freedom
- Governments around the world crack down on journalists covering COVID-19
- Philippines COVID-19 state of emergency includes prison time for spreading ‘false news’
- Trust deficit: About This Report
- Trust deficit: Guatemala's new president must overcome skepticism to improve press freedom
- Trust deficit: 'The goal was to silence me'
- Journalist Adnan Rashidi tortured, robbed in Iraqi Kurdistan
- Iraqi security forces seize journalist’s belongings for allegedly violating COVID-19 curfew
- Egypt expels Guardian reporter Ruth Michaelson over COVID-19 coverage
Reporter Without Borders
- As doubt persists on North Korea’s “zero” coronavirus cases, RSF urges for transparency
- China’s diplomats must stop attacking media over coronavirus reporting
- The Council of Europe must review Hungary's new Coronavirus Emergency Law for the sake of press freedom
- Orbán’s Orwellian law paves way for “information police state” in Hungary
- Mexico. Woman journalist gunned down in Mexico’s Vera Cruz state
- Brazil’s president attacks media instead of combatting coronavirus
- Thailand uses Covid-19 to restrict the freedom to inform
- Myanmar editor could be jailed for life over rebel interview
OPC Applauds Obama for Signing Daniel Pearl Media Act
The Honorable Mr. Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Mr. President:
The Freedom of the Press Committee of the Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) applauds the Daniel Pearl Act on Freedom of the Media which you signed yesterday, authorizing the Department of State to compile a public list of all nations and states violating that freedom.
For more than seventy years, the OPC has objected to government abuses of press freedom through letters to leaders, appropriate cabinet officers, and chiefs of police. In recent years, we have received increasing numbers of responses, indicating that political leaders are aware of how quickly such actions damage their country’s global image.
Such a public gesture as your signature to the Daniel Pearl Act, making it a law, lends increased authority to our efforts and those of fellow organizations to aid our colleagues in distress, in prison or otherwise. Archives of our press freedom letters on our website (www.opcofamerica.org) attest to our efforts and results.
Our good wishes to you, Mr. President. Again, we are grateful for your efforts, which aid our cause.
Respectfully yours,
Jacqueline Albert Simon
Larry Martz
Freedom of the Press Committee