[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1861 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1861
To highlight and promote freedom of the press worldwide.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 1, 2009
Mr. Schiff (for himself and Mr. Pence) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To highlight and promote freedom of the press worldwide.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press
Act of 2009''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Acts of violence against journalists and media
personnel continue to rise in frequency, with very few of the
attacks resulting in prosecution.
(2) According to the 2008 Annual Report by the Committee to
Protect Journalists, in 2008 at least 41 journalists were
killed in connection with their work, and 125 were imprisoned.
(3) Reflecting the rise in influence of Internet reporting,
an increasing number of online editors, bloggers, and web-based
reporters are being imprisoned and websites are being closed
because of official censorship.
(4) The United States and the international community agree
that the safety and independence of journalists and the media
are a matter of pressing international concern. On December 10,
1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights states that ``Everyone has the
right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek,
receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.''.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
(1) highlight and promote the work and accomplishments of
journalists and media organizations that promote freedom of
opinion and expression worldwide;
(2) draw attention to the conditions in countries in which
journalists are killed, imprisoned, kidnapped, threatened, or
censored;
(3) offer protection for these individuals and media
organizations by identifying to the international community
those countries where journalists are at the highest risk; and
(4) emphasize the significance of including freedom of the
press as enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights as a factor in United States foreign policy.
SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT ON THE PROMOTION OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
WORLDWIDE.
(a) Report.--The Secretary of State shall annually submit to
Congress a report regarding the promotion of freedom of the press
worldwide. The report shall be entitled the ``Annual Report on the
Status of Freedom of the Press Worldwide''.
(b) Preparation.--The Secretary shall prepare the Annual Report
with the assistance of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
(c) Contents.--The Annual Report shall contain the following
information:
(1) A description of the status of freedom of the press in
each country, including initiatives in favor of freedom of the
press and efforts to improve or preserve, as appropriate, 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, 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.
(3) In countries where there are particularly severe
violations of freedom of the press, the annual report shall
address the following:
(A) Whether government authorities of each such
country participate in, facilitate, or condone such
violations of the freedom of the press.
(B) 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
individuals who attack or murder journalists.
(d) Organization.--The Annual Report shall be organized in three
parts, as follows:
(1) Part I shall consist of the identification of countries
(and the associated assessment of their efforts) under
subsection (c)(1).
(2) Part II shall consist of the identification of
countries (and the associated assessment of their efforts)
under subsection (c)(2).
(3) Part III shall consist of the identification of
countries (and the associated assessment of their efforts)
under subsection (c)(3).
(e) Time for Submission.--The Secretary shall submit the Annual
Report on May 3 of each year, declared by the United Nations General
Assembly as World Press Freedom Day, or the first day thereafter on
which either House of Congress is in session.
(f) Unclassified Form.--The Annual Report shall be submitted in
unclassified form.
SEC. 4. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall administer a grant
program with the aim of promoting freedom of the press worldwide. The
grant program shall be administered by the Department of State's Bureau
of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor as part of the Human Rights
Democracy Fund (HRDF).
(b) Amounts and Time.--Grants may be awarded to nonprofit and
international organizations in amounts ranging from $70,000 to $150,000
annually. Grants may span multiple years, up to five years.
(c) Purpose.--Grant proposals should promote and broaden press
freedoms by strengthening the independence of journalists and media
organizations, promoting a legal framework for freedom of the press, or
through providing regionally and culturally relevant training and
professionalization of skills to meet international standards in both
traditional and digital media.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State
$2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 to 2014 to carry out this Act.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Annual report.--The term ``Annual Report'' means the
Annual Report on the Status of Freedom of the Press Worldwide
required under subsection (a).
(2) Media organization.--The term ``media organization''
means a group or organization that gathers and disseminates
news and information to the public (through any medium of mass
communication) in a foreign country in which the group or
organization is located, except that the term does not include
a group or organization that is primarily an agency or
instrumentality of the government of such foreign country. The
term includes an individual who is an agent or employee of such
group or organization who acts within the scope of such agency
or employment.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of State.
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