IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 357 

Responding to growing threats to freedom of the press and expression around 

the world, reaffirming the centrality of a free and independent press 

to the health of democracy, and reaffirming freedom of the press as 

a priority of the United States Government in promoting democracy, 

human rights, and good governance on World Press Freedom Day. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2023 

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. 

COHEN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, and Mrs. WATSON

COLEMAN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Responding to growing threats to freedom of the press and 

expression around the world, reaffirming the centrality 

of a free and independent press to the health of democracy, and reaffirming freedom of the press as a priority 

of the United States Government in promoting democracy, human rights, and good governance on World Press 

Freedom Day. 

Whereas Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted at Paris, December 10, 

1948, states, ‘‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold 

opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and 


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impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’’; 

Whereas Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted on December 

16, 1966, states, ‘‘Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include 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.’’; 

Whereas, in 1993, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed May 3 of each year as ‘‘World Press Freedom 

Day’’ to— 

(1) celebrate the fundamental principles of freedom 

of the press; 

(2) evaluate freedom of the press around the world; 

(3) defend the media against attacks on its independence; and 

(4) pay tribute to journalists who have lost their 

lives while working in their profession; 

Whereas, on December 18, 2013, the United Nations General 

Assembly adopted Resolution 68/163 on the safety of 

journalists and the problem of impunity, which unequivocally condemns all attacks on, and violence against, journalists and media workers, including torture, 

extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and intimidation and harassment in conflict and 

nonconflict situations; 

Whereas the theme for World Press Freedom Day 2023 is 

‘‘Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of Expression as 

a Driver for All Other Human Rights’’, which signifies 

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istic, and diverse media, and freedom of expression in enabling the enjoyment and protection of all other human 

rights, and which will highlight the essential role of the 

media and journalists in verifying and disseminating 

facts, giving voice to the voiceless, creating spaces for 

ideas to be debated, and rendering complex matters intelligible for the public at large; 

Whereas Thomas Jefferson, who recognized the importance 

of the press in a constitutional republic, wrote in 1786, 

‘‘Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and 

that cannot be limited without being lost.’’; 

Whereas the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009 

(Public Law 111–166; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note), signed into 

law by President Barack Obama in 2010, expanded the 

examination of the freedom of the press around the world 

in the Department of State’s annual country reports on 

human rights practices; 

Whereas Freedom House’s publication ‘‘Freedom in the 

World 2023’’ noted that global freedom has declined for 

17 consecutive years, and over the past year, media freedom came under pressure in at least 157 countries and 

territories assessed in the report; 

Whereas Freedom House data show that freedom of expression, for the media and individuals, has declined more 

than any other civil liberty over the last 17 years, and 

infringement on free expression is one of the biggest drivers of democratic backsliding globally; 

Whereas the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by 

Reporters Without Borders, expresses concerns about an 

increase in polarization amplified by information chaos, 

and notes that within democratic societies, divisions are 


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growing due to the spread of opinion media and 

disinformation amplified by social media, while at the 

international level, democracies are being weakened by 

the asymmetry between open societies and despotic regimes that control media and online platforms while waging propaganda wars; 

Whereas attempts to silence the media continue to multiply 

around the globe, with traditional methods of censorship, 

violence, and harassment being accompanied by increasingly pervasive digital surveillance, intimidation, and attacks; 

Whereas the Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 

journalists and media outlets around the world have been 

targeted by sophisticated spyware products that pose a 

severe risk to their safety and the safety of their sources; 

Whereas Freedom House reports that journalists and others 

exercising their freedom of expression continue to be victims of transnational repression, tactics used by governments beyond their borders to silence dissent among 

diasporas and exiles, including assassinations, unlawful 

deportations, detentions, renditions, physical and digital 

threats, harassment, and coercion by proxy, and journalists have been the victims in 11 percent of incidents of 

physical transnational repression identified by Freedom 

House since 2014; 

Whereas, according to Freedom House’s ‘‘Freedom on the 

Net 2022’’ report, people in 53 countries faced arrest or 

imprisonment for expressing themselves online, including— 

(1) online journalists targeted for their reporting; 


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(2) 40 countries blocking websites featuring political, 

social, or religious outlets, including many news outlets, 

an all-time high since 2011; and 

(3) in 40 countries journalists, bloggers, human 

rights activists, and others experienced physical violence 

in retaliation for expressing themselves online; 

Whereas the Department of Justice in January 2023 charged 

3 men in an alleged plot that originated in Iran to kill 

Masih Alinejad, an opposition activist who worked for 

years as a journalist in Iran, has worked for Voice of 

America’s Farsi-language network since 2015, and is now 

a United States citizen; 

Whereas Reporters Without Borders reports that 55 journalists were killed in 2022 (including 7 women journalists), 

an almost 15-percent increase compared with 2021, and 

that more than 60 percent of those killed lost their lives 

in countries considered to be ‘‘at peace’’ rather than in 

conflict zones; 

Whereas, according to Reporters Without Borders, 547 journalists and 21 media workers were imprisoned as of April 

6, 2023; 

Whereas the Freedom to Write Index 2022, published by 

PEN America, noted that at least 311 writers and public 

intellectuals, including columnists and editorial journalists, were jailed across 36 different countries during 

2022; 

Whereas, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists— 

(1) at least 67 journalists and media workers were 

killed around the world in 2022, at least 41 in direct connection to their work, an almost 50-percent increase from 


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2021, driven by a high number of journalist deaths related to coverage of Russia’s full-scale invasion of 

Ukraine and a sharp uptick of journalist deaths in Latin 

America; 

(2) more than half of the 67 killings occurred in 3 

countries: Ukraine (15), Mexico (13), and Haiti (7); 

(3) the deadliest region for journalists on assignment was Latin America, whose 30 slain journalists accounted for nearly half of the global total; 

(4) the vast majority of killers of journalists continue to get away with murder, and the perpetrators have 

faced no punishment in nearly 80 percent of the 263 

cases of journalists murdered in retaliation for their work 

globally between September 1, 2012, to August 31, 2022; 

(5) at least 363 journalists worldwide were in prison 

in relation to their work as of December 1, 2022, a new 

global high that overtakes last year’s record by 20 percent and marks another grim milestone in a deteriorating 

media landscape; and 

(6) Iran, China, Burma, Tu ̈rkiye (Turkey), and 

Belarus were the top 5 jailers of journalists worldwide, 

respectively, responsible for nearly 60 percent of all jailed 

journalists; 

Whereas the People’s Republic of China maintains one of the 

most repressive media environments in the world, with at 

least 104 journalists being currently detained according 

to Reporters Without Borders, and seeks to curtail freedom of expression and political speech inside and outside 

the country, including by— 

(1) targeting independent and foreign media in 

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nial of medical care to imprisoned journalists, and curtailing access to legal representation; 

(2) pervasively monitoring and censoring online and 

social media content, including through the banning of 

virtual private networks; 

(3) spreading propaganda to foreign audiences 

through the United Front Work Department and related 

activities; 

(4) indiscriminately stifling dissent and freedom of 

expression in Hong Kong, especially through the arbitrary use of national security legislation such as the 2020 

National Security Law, which has led to the suppression 

of all meaningful political dissent, including the closure 

of several independent news organizations and the imprisonment of at least 28 journalists over the past 3 

years, at least 13 of whom are currently detained according to Reporters Without Borders, including Jimmy Lai, 

the founder of Apple Daily and an outspoken democracy 

advocate, who is facing charges that could result in life 

imprisonment; 

(5) cracking down on thousands of civilians who in 

November 2022 peacefully protested the regime’s draconian ‘‘zero-Covid’’ policy in cities throughout the country, 

in the largest protests to convulse China since the prodemocracy Tiananmen Square protests in 1989; and 

(6) suppressing dissent through a ‘‘sovereign Internet’’ model and exporting technology to enhance the ability of like-minded authoritarian regimes to exert control 

online and monitor the activity of their people; 

Whereas the Russian Federation continues its full assault 

against all independent media actors both inside Russia 

and abroad, a situation that has drastically worsened 


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since the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, 

including by— 

(1) passing draconian legislation that criminalizes 

any public opposition to or independent news reporting 

about the unprovoked war against Ukraine, and imprisoning journalists including foreign correspondents for 

their reporting, including— 

(A) the arrest in March 2023 of Evan 

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter and 

United States citizen, on baseless, politically motivated espionage charges, the first time an American 

journalist has been detained in Russia since the Cold 

War, and for which the Department of State on 

April 10, 2023, deemed Gershkovich to be ‘‘wrongfully detained’’ by Russia; 

(B) Ivan Safronov, a correspondent with Russian business dailies Kommersant and Vedomosti, 

who was sentenced to 22 years in jail on treason 

charges in September 2022; 

(C) Maria Ponomarenko, a correspondent with 

the RusNews independent news website, who was 

sentenced to 6 years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian military in February 

2023; 

(D) Sergey Mikhaylov, publisher of the independent newspaper Listok, who was arrested and 

charged for spreading false information about the 

Russian military in April 2022; and 

(E) Mikhail Afanasyev, editor-in-chief of the 

online magazine Novy Fokus, who was arrested and 

charged with spreading false information about the 

Russian military in April 2022; 


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(2) relying on restrictive legislation, including a repressive ‘‘foreign agents’’ law, as justification to harass, 

fine, and freeze the assets of media organizations, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and shuttering 

independent news outlets as ‘‘foreign agents’’, such as 

Novaya Gazeta, a landmark independent newspaper 

founded in 1993, which suspended operations in Russia 

in March 2022 after receiving warnings from the authorities citing the country’s foreign agents law, and was 

stripped of its print and online media licenses in September 2022; 

(3) arresting and detaining journalists covering 

peaceful protests, and intensifying already widespread 

harassment, repression, and government-driven retaliation, including 22 journalists being imprisoned as of 

April 6, 2023, according to Reporters Without Borders, 

9 of whom were arrested since the beginning of the war 

of aggression against Ukraine; 

(4) allegedly kidnapping, torturing, detaining, and 

disappearing journalists in Russian-controlled territories 

of Ukraine, including Amet Suleimanov, Asan Akhmetov, 

Iryna Danylovych, Marlen Asanov, Nariman Celal, 

Oleksiy Bessarabov, Osman Arifmemetov, Remzi Bekirov, 

Ruslan Suleimanov, Rustem Sheikhaliev, Server 

Mustafayev, Seyran Salievn, Timur Ibragimov, and 

Vladyslav Yesypenko; and 

(5) excessive blocking of internet access and applications, including independent news sites, social media platforms, and other tools Russian citizens rely on to access 

independent information and opinions and to connect 

with each other and the outside world, including Meduza, 

a leading independent Russian-language news website 

based outside of Russia, which was labeled ‘‘undesirable’’ 


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in January 2023 and de facto banned by Russian authorities; 

Whereas, since the start of Russia’s full-scale offensive 

against Ukraine, Reporters Without Borders has documented attacks directly targeting journalists wearing a 

‘‘Press’’ armband, including the— 

(1) killing of 8 journalists and media workers; 

(2) torture by electric shock, beatings, and mock 

executions of journalists working for the international 

press; 

(3) targeted kidnappings of journalists and their 

families in occupied regions of Ukraine to put pressure 

on their reporting; and 

(4) deliberate attacks targeting media facilities demonstrating that the information is in itself an essential 

target of Russian forces in the conflict; 

Whereas the Belarusian regime has conducted sweeping attacks against the press since President Alexander 

Lukashenko’s fraudulent election in August 2020, with 

journalists and media workers harassed, assaulted, imprisoned (34 of them as of April 6, 2023, according to 

Reporters Without Borders), or otherwise retaliated 

against for their work, and has stripped the accreditation 

of and detained numerous journalists to suppress independent information and freedom of expression, including— 

(1) Katsiaryna Andreyeva, a correspondent with Poland-based independent broadcaster Belsat TV, who was 

serving a 2-year prison term for filming live broadcast of 

the violent dispersal of a protest against President 

Lukashenko in November 2020, and was sentenced to 8 


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additional years in prison on treason charges in July 

2022; 

(2) Ksenia Lutskina, a former correspondent for the 

state broadcaster Belteleradio, who was sentenced to 8 

years in prison on charges of conspiring to seize state 

power in September 2022, and Lutskina has a preexisting brain tumor that has grown in detention and is 

not receiving appropriate medical care; 

(3) Maryna Zolatava, chief editor of the independent 

news website Tut.by, who was sentenced to 12 years in 

prison on charges of incitement to hatred and distributing materials calling for actions aimed at harming national security in March 2023; 

(4) Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist who, while working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained 

in November 2021 and sentenced in June 2022 to 6 

years in prison on charges of forming an extremist group; 

and 

(5) the labeling of dozens of media outlets and the 

exiled Belarusian Association of Journalists as ‘‘extremist’’, and any individual charged with creating or participating in a group that has been labeled ‘‘extremist’’ faces 

up to 10 years in prison; 

Whereas Iran continues to severely restrict freedoms of the 

press and speech, subjecting journalists to aggressive intimidation, arbitrary summons, arrests, travel bans, conditional releases, torture, inhumane treatment, and unsubstantiated and unjust sentences, with the situation severely worsening since the start of the 2022 protests following 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini’s death 

in police custody on September 16; 


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Whereas Iran was the world’s leading jailer of journalists and 

the biggest jailer of female journalists according to the 

Committee to Protect Journalists’ December 2022 prison 

census, with the arrests of at least 100 journalists in 

Iran in the last 4 months of 2022 documented by the 

Committee to Protect Journalists, including— 

(1) female journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe 

Mohammadi, who were imprisoned in September 2022 

after breaking the story of Mahsa Amini’s death in police 

custody, and the 2 journalists face antistate charges, including espionage, that can be punishable with execution; 

and 

(2) Yalda Moaiery, a prominent female photojournalist who was among the first journalists to cover 

the nationwide protests in Tehran, and she was arrested 

by antiriot police despite having press credentials, and 

was later sentenced to 6 years in prison on charges of 

‘‘spreading propaganda against the system’’ and ‘‘acting 

against national security’’; 

Whereas a 2022 report by the International Federation of 

Journalists and the Afghanistan National Journalists 

Union shows that at least 318 media outlets in Afghanistan have had to close since the takeover of the country 

by the Taliban, and that just 2,334 journalists are still 

working in the country, a significant decline from a high 

of 5,069 journalists in the period preceding the fall of 

Kabul in August 2021, and that 72 percent of journalists 

who have lost their jobs have been female journalists; 

Whereas, in Pakistan, the Government maintained high levels 

of media censorship, and impunity persists in cases of 

killings and physical attacks on journalists, including— 


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(1) the October 2022 killing of Pakistani journalist 

Arshad Sharif in Kenya, where he had sought safety 

after feeling Pakistan in August 2022 while facing a series of police cases in Pakistan in relation to his work; 

and 

(2) the March 2023 Government ban on satellite television channels from airing live and recorded speeches 

by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the temporary suspension of the license of ARY News for broadcasting a speech by Khan; 

Whereas Morocco has experienced severe crackdowns on freedom of expression and supporters of a free press, with 13 

journalists currently being detained, including— 

(1) Taoufik Bouachrine, the publisher and editor-inchief of Akhbar al-Youm, who was arrested in February 

2018 on retaliatory charges related to his journalism and 

is serving a 15-year sentence; 

(2) Soulaimane Raissouni, a columnist and editor-inchief of Akhbar al-Youm, who succeeded publisher 

Taoufik Bouachrine and was arrested on similar retaliatory charges in May 2020 and is serving a 5-year sentence; 

(3) Ali Anouzla, a journalist and editor of the news 

website Lakome, who has been repeatedly arrested on retaliatory charges relating to his journalism, including 

‘‘apologism for terrorism’’ and ‘‘incitement to terrorism’’; 

and 

(4) Omar Radi, a journalist who was arrested on 

suspicion of espionage in June 2020 shortly after Amnesty International reported that the Moroccan authorities hacked his phone and monitored his activities; 


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Whereas, in Algeria, the situation of press freedom deteriorated in 2022 and 2023, with several journalists prosecuted for their work, including— 

(1) Ihsane El Kadi, who was prosecuted several 

times and sentenced to 3 years in prison in April 2023; 

and 

(2) newspapers facing strong pressures against their 

editorial lines, including the newspaper Liberte ́, whose 

owner decided to close after 30 years as a result of the 

interminable pressure exerted at the highest level in recent months against the paper’s editorial line; 

Whereas Egypt’s restrictions on the media have accelerated 

under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi since 2013, with at 

least 22 journalists imprisoned as of April 6, 2023, according to Reporters Without Borders, including Alaa 

Abd El Fattah, a blogger who was sentenced to 5 years 

in prison for ‘‘broadcasting false news’’ after having already endured torture and a hunger strike during his 

time in jail; 

Whereas, in Syria, Austin Tice, a United States journalist 

who was taken prisoner while reporting on Syria’s civil 

war more than 10 years ago in August 2012, remains 

wrongfully detained by the Assad regime; 

Whereas freedom of the press continues to be under assault 

throughout Southeast Asia, especially in Vietnam, where 

at least 22 journalists and bloggers are being held in jail, 

some with sentences of up to 15 years for their independent reporting, including female journalist Pham 

Doan Trang, a recipient of the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists in 

2022 and the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom 

Prize for Impact in 2019; 


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Whereas, in Burma, Reporters Without Borders asserts that 

‘‘press freedom has been set back 10 years in 10 days’’ 

after the February 2021 military coup, as— 

(1) media workers were forced into hiding and confronted censorship, harassment, internet blocks, beatings, 

interrogations, threats, and injuries at the hands of the 

military; 

(2) multiple independent media outlets had to cease 

operations or close altogether or had their licenses revoked by the military; and 

(3) journalists were detained at alarming rates, with 

75 journalists currently being detained according to Reporters Without Borders; 

Whereas, in the Philippines, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate Maria Ressa, a United States citizen, continues to 

be targeted and judicially harassed by the Government’s 

aggressive campaign against independent media after her 

reporting on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘‘war on 

drugs’’ and other topics, and she still faces the threat of 

imprisonment on three remaining criminal charges, including the cyber libel case that she was convicted of in 

June 2020, which was upheld by the Court of Appeals in 

July 2022 and is currently pending a judgement by the 

Supreme Court; 

Whereas the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to maintain 

an especially hostile environment toward journalists 

through systematic and arbitrary arrests (25 of whom 

are currently being detained according to Reporters 

Without Borders), torture and inhumane or degrading 

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porters and columnists from traveling or returning to 

their professional work postdetention, including— 

(1) Maha Al-Rafidi Al-Qahtani, a journalist and 

writer arrested in September 2019, held in solitary confinement, and physically abused while in prison; 

(2) Abdulrahman Farhana, a columnist detained in 

February 2019, charged with membership in a terrorist 

organization; 

(3) Zuhair Kutbi, a journalist jailed in January 

2019, who reportedly suffers from torture, 

malnourishment, and denial of cancer treatment in prison; and 

(4) Raif Badawi, a blogger who recently completed 

a 10-year prison sentence on blasphemy charges, and who 

remains subjected to a further 10-year travel ban which 

prevents him from uniting with his family who received 

asylum in Canada; 

Whereas Washington Post journalist and United States resident Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in October 2018 by 

a team of Saudi operatives inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Tu ̈rkiye, and the Senate unanimously 

approved a resolution stating that Mr. Khashoggi’s murder was carried out at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; 

Whereas a Turkish judge, likely at the behest of President 

Recep Tayyip Erdog ̆an, issued a ruling in March 2022 

that closed the criminal trial of the perpetrators in 

Tu ̈rkiye and transferred it to Saudi Arabia, where the 

case against the perpetrators was promptly dismissed, 

foreclosing the prospect that they will ever be held accountable; 


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Whereas, in Ethiopia, numerous journalists were arbitrarily 

detained in connection to their work, a trend that worsened during the civil war and continued even after the 

signing of a peace agreement in November 2022, and 

journalists faced other additional forms of censorship by 

Ethiopian authorities, such as repeated internet disruptions, including as recently as April 2023, and the January 2023 suspension of 15 media outlets and their representatives from operating in the country’s Somali Regional State; 

Whereas, in South Sudan, despite repeated calls for a credible inquiry into the killing of journalist Christopher 

Allen, a dual United States-United Kingdom citizen who 

was deliberately gunned down in August 2017 while reporting on the civil conflict in circumstances that could 

amount to war crimes, according to Reporters Without 

Borders, there has been no justice in this case; 

Whereas, in Somalia, freelance journalist and press freedom 

advocate Abdalle Ahmed Mumin faced months of legal 

harassment, including being detained several times and 

later being convicted of disobeying government orders in 

connection to his objection to government plans to censor 

media coverage of press freedom issues, and Mr. Mumin 

was released on March 26, 2022, after more than a 

month in prison; 

Whereas, in Burundi, journalist Floriane Irangabiye is serving a 10-year prison term, following a January 2023 conviction stemming from her critical commentary on governance issues in the country; 

Whereas, across Latin America and the Caribbean, authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela continue their longstanding practice of stifling dissent by 


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threatening, harassing, and detaining independent journalists and other media actors, and the Committee to 

Protect Journalists documented 30 journalists killed in 

Latin America in 2022, reflecting the outsize risk journalists in the region face while covering topics such as 

crime, corruption, gang violence, and the environment; 

Whereas, in Mexico, which remains the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere for journalists— 

(1) murders, death threats, and legal impunity cause 

journalists to self-censor their reporting out of fear; 

(2) according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 13 journalists were killed in Mexico in 2022, 

the highest number the press freedom organization has 

ever documented in a single year in the country since it 

started keeping records in 1992; 

(3) 28 journalists are currently counted as forcibly 

disappeared in Mexico, according to Reporters Without 

Borders; 

(4) Mexico’s Federal Mechanism for the Protection 

of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists lacks the resources and political support to provide adequate protection to all journalists under threat who have requested 

protection; 

(5) Fredid Roma ́n, founder of the La Realidad 

newspaper and a columnist for the Ve ́rtice de 

Chilpancingo newspaper, was shot and killed in the 

southern Mexican state of Guerrero in August 2022, exemplifying the government’s failure to make the country 

safe for reporters; 

(6) Alfonso Margarito Martı ́nez Esquivel, 49, a 

photojournalist who specialized in covering crime, was 

gunned down in Tijuana on January 17, 2022, and he 

worked for the magazine Semanario Zeta, while often 


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also covering stories for the newspaper Zeta and the daily 

La Jornada de Baja California; and 

(7) Lourdes Maldonado Lo ́pez was gunned down on 

January 23, 2022, outside her home in Tijuana, by 2 individuals who arrived in a taxi and picked up their spent 

bullet casings before leaving, and an experienced and very 

outspoken journalist committed to combating violence 

and corruption, Maldonado was the founder and host of 

Brebaje con Lourdes Maldonado, a local news program 

on Facebook; 

Whereas, in Haiti, at least 7 journalists were killed in 2022, 

including 2 by the police, according to the Committee to 

Protect Journalists; 

Whereas, under the auspices of the United States Agency for 

Global Media, the United States Government provides financial assistance to several editorially independent 

media outlets, including Voice of America, Radio Free 

Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio y 

Televisio ́n Martı ́, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks— 

(1) which report and broadcast news, information, 

and analysis in critical regions around the world; and 

(2) whose journalists regularly face harassment, 

fines, and imprisonment for their work; and 

Whereas freedom of the press— 

(1) is a key component of democratic governance 

and socioeconomic development; and 

(2) enhances public accountability, transparency, 

and participation in civil society and democratic governance: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 


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1 (1) condemns threats to freedom of the press 

2 and free expression around the world; 

3 (2) remembers the bravery of journalists and 

4 media workers around the world who, despite threats 

5 to their safety, play an essential role in promoting 

6 government accountability, defending democratic ac7 tivity, and strengthening civil society; 

8 (3) remembers journalists and media workers 

9 who have lost their lives carrying out their work; 

10 (4) calls on governments abroad to implement 

11 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 74/157 

12 (2019) by thoroughly investigating and seeking to 

13 resolve outstanding cases of violence against journal14 ists, including murders and kidnappings, while en15 suring the protection of witnesses; 

16 (5) condemns all actions around the world that 

17 suppress freedom of the press; 

18 (6) reaffirms the centrality of freedom of the 

19 press to efforts of the United States Government to 

20 support democracy, mitigate conflict, and promote 

21 good governance around the world; and 

22 (7) calls on the President and the Secretary of 

23 State to— 

24 (A) preserve and build upon the leadership 

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1 lating to freedom of the press and journalist 

2 safety, on the basis of the protections afforded 

3 the American people under the First Amend4 ment to the Constitution of the United States; 

5 (B) improve the rapid identification, publi6 cation, and response by the United States Gov7 ernment to threats against freedom of the press 

8 around the world; 

9 (C) urge foreign governments to promptly 

10 and transparently investigate and bring to jus11 tice the perpetrators of threats, harassment, 

12 and attacks against journalists; 

13 (D) leverage United States foreign assist14 ance to support independent media, address 

15 disinformation, and support technologies that 

16 allow for expanded access to independent re17 porting in countries where authoritarian re18 gimes control or limit the internet; and 

19 (E) continue to highlight the issue of 

20 threats against freedom of the press in the an21 nual country reports on human rights practices 

22 of the Department of State and through diplo23 matic channels. 

Æ 


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