IIB 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3714 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
DECEMBER 17, 2009 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to include 
in the Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Prac-
tices information about freedom of the press in foreign 
countries, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Daniel Pearl Freedom 
of the Press Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELAT-
ING TO FREEDOM OF THE PRESS WORLD-
WIDE IN ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON 
HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES. 
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended— 
(1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)), as 
amended by section 333(c) of this division— 
(A) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘and’’ 
at the end; 
(B) in paragraph (11)— 
(i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end; and 
(ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 
and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(12) wherever applicable— 
‘‘(A) a description of the status of freedom 
of the press, including initiatives in favor of 
freedom of the press and efforts to improve or 
preserve, as appropriate, the independence of 
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the media, together with an assessment of 
progress made as a result of those efforts; 
‘‘(B) an identification of countries in which 
there were violations of freedom of the press, 
including direct physical attacks, imprisonment, 
indirect sources of pressure, and censorship by 
governments, military, intelligence, or police 
forces, criminal groups, or armed extremist or 
rebel groups; and 
‘‘(C) in countries where there are particu-
larly severe violations of freedom of the press— 
‘‘(i) whether government authorities 
of each such country participate in, facili-
tate, or condone such violations of the free-
dom of the press; and 
‘‘(ii) what steps the government of 
each such country has taken to preserve 
the safety and independence of the media, 
and to ensure the prosecution of those in-
dividuals who attack or murder journal-
ists.’’; and 
(2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by add-
ing at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall in-
clude, wherever applicable— 
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‘‘(1) a description of the status of freedom of 
the press, including initiatives in favor of freedom of 
the press and efforts to improve or preserve, as ap-
propriate, the independence of the media, together 
with an assessment of progress made as a result of 
those efforts; 
‘‘(2) an identification of countries in which 
there were violations of freedom of the press, includ-
ing direct physical attacks, imprisonment, indirect 
sources of pressure, and censorship by governments, 
military, intelligence, or police forces, criminal 
groups, or armed extremist or rebel groups; and 
‘‘(3) in countries where there are particularly 
severe violations of freedom of the press— 
‘‘(A) whether government authorities of 
each such country participate in, facilitate, or 
condone such violations of the freedom of the 
press; and 
‘‘(B) what steps the government of each 
such country has taken to preserve the safety 
and independence of the media, and to ensure 
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the prosecution of those individuals who attack 
or murder journalists.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives December 16, 
2009. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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