Sec. 3. Statement of policy
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Congress finds the following: Freedom of the press is a critical component of democratic governance and enhances transparency, accountability, and participation of civil society. United States Government efforts to protect and expand freedom of the press and free expression, including online, is in the national interests of the United States by supporting democracy, promoting good governance and public health, mitigating conflict, and encouraging transparency and civil society development around the world.
Globally, journalists and media personnel that receive and impart information and ideas, online and offline, face increasing restrictions, threats, censorship, arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and other violence for exercising their right to freedom of expression in accordance with Article 19 of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Impunity for attacks on journalists and media personnel is an acute problem globally and a primary challenge to protecting freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
According to the press freedom rankings issued annually by Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders, countries with the most restrictive media and information environments include Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Dijbouti, Syria, Laos, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. The Government of Turkey, since a failed coup attempt in 2016, has used terrorism and national security laws to shutter hundreds of media outlets and jail dozens of journalists, compounding the effects of more than a decade of expanding ruling party influence over the ownership of mainstream media in the country at the expense of independent outlets.
The Government of China maintains one of the most restrictive media and information environments in the world and seeks to control free speech inside and outside the country through censorship, onerous media organization registration requirements, harassment, imprisonment, conditioning of press credential renewals for foreign journalists and media personnel and visa issuance for foreign journalists and media personnel on positive coverage of China, and the operation of a digital surveillance system so pervasive that both routine and sensitive reporting activities and many aspects of daily life are subject to government monitoring.
Russia has continued to use sophisticated tools to block and control information online and employ draconian laws to pressure independent media. Expansion and export of new technologies used for censorship and digital surveillance represents a notable threat to human rights, including press freedoms, transparency, and democratic governance globally, and constitute a critical challenge to United States national interests. Other countries’ restrictions on the activities of United States journalists and media personnel, other countries’ censorship and blocking of websites of United States news and media organizations, and other restrictions on the cross-border flow of information— damages the competitiveness of such organizations and limits access to information critical for United States investors, consumers, and others making market and financial decisions; and should be considered a restriction of trade and creating an unfair competitive advantage benefitting State-owned or controlled news and media organizations.
It is the policy of the United States— to advocate for detained and targeted journalists and media personnel in foreign countries, including citizen journalists and bloggers; to call on foreign governments, in both bilateral discussions and through multilateral organizations, to end restrictions on the internationally-recognized right to freedom of expression and to abide by international commitments stipulated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; to urge foreign governments to transparently investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of attacks against journalists and media personnel; to halt efforts to censor or block access to news from United States journalists and media personnel and the websites of United States news and media organizations; to highlight threats to freedom of the press in the Department of State’s Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, as required under section 116(d)(12) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)(12) ), and other public statements by senior Department of State officials; to seek as part of bilateral diplomatic negotiations globally conditions for a free flow of news and information, internet freedom, and an end to visas restrictions for United States journalists and media personnel; to link expansion of the free flow of news and information with ongoing and future trade agreements, and other bilateral agreements and communiques, by seeking language eliminating any and all limitations on market access for news agency services and the elimination of any restrictions on cross-border data flows involving journalists and media personnel, including via the internet; to ensure that pursuing bilateral relationships with foreign governments, particularly those with restrictive press and information environments, is based on the principles of reciprocity across many sectors of the bilateral relationship, including economic, diplomatic, educational, religious, and in the free flow of news and information; and to clearly differentiate, in official statements, media communications, and messaging, between the citizens of a country and the government of the country, for example, the people and culture of China on the one hand and the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party of China on the other.
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Sec. 3
Statement of policy
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