Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress
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/bill/117/hr/7650/ih/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: Even as the number of journalists killed in war zones has reached a historic low, the number of journalists killed or targeted in countries at peace continues to remain at historically high levels. In 2020, more than 2/3 of all media fatalities took place in countries at peace. Even as the COVID–19 pandemic reduced the number of journalists reporting from the field, Reporters Without Borders
(RSF)reported that 50 journalists were killed in 2020. Additionally, as of December 2020, 387 journalists remained imprisoned worldwide, continuing the historically high trend seen in previous years, and 57 journalists were held hostage. As the frontier between countries at war and countries at peace continues to disappear, more must be done to protect journalists and activists defending human rights and spreading awareness of abuse and corruption. It is the sense of Congress that— a free and vibrant press is the fulcrum of democracy; the protection and advancement of the freedom of expression is a foundational value of the United States; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted in 1948 with the United States voting in favor, defines freedom of expression, which includes a free press, as a fundamental human right; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the United States ratified in 1992, specifies that everyone shall have the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice ; and it is in the national security interest of the United States to promote the spread of democratic values and institutions worldwide.