Freedom of Press Act

Obama is set to sign the Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press Act into law, after it was passed unanimously by the Senate last week. According to JTA.org, this law “mandates the State Department to identify countries in which there are violations of press freedom; determine whether the government authorities of those countries participate in, facilitate or condone the violations; and report the actions these governments have taken to preserve the safety and independence of the media and ensure the prosecution of those who attack or murder journalists.”

Unfortunately, it’s too late to help Daniel Pearl, who was decapitated by extremist Islamics in 2001 while investigating al-Qaida financial networks abroad. But his father, mother, wife and son who was born three months after Pearl was murdered.

“Violators of press freedom throughout the world now know that they will be closely watched,” Pearl’s father, Judea, said before leaving Los Angeles for Washington. “This is something our son Danny fought for all his life.”

In a White House statement, President Obama said last year was a bad year for press freedom due to the fact that more media workers “were killed for their work last year than any year in recent history.”

“In this year, like in other years, nearly three out of four of the journalists killed were local news-gatherers who were murdered in their own nations.”

The Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press law seeks to make it safer for the media to gather and report the truth.

“In many parts of the world, the freedom of the press is the last – or even the only – safeguard against the complete erosion of all human rights,” said Senator Christopher Dodd. U.S. Representative Adam Schiff also helped to get the bill passed through Congress.