[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 51 (Wednesday, May 3, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H2083]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, today is World Press Freedom Day, a time set 
aside to honor the work and sacrifice of journalists around the world. 
I believe that freedom of the press is vital to American national 
security and to our democracy here at home.
  Today, my colleague from Indiana, Mr. Pence, and Senators Chris Dodd 
and Richard Lugar joined me in launching a new bipartisan, bicameral 
caucus aimed at advancing press freedom around the world. The 
Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press creates a forum where the 
United States Congress can work to combat and condemn media censorship 
and the persecution of journalists around the world. The launch of this 
new caucus sends a strong message that Congress will defend democratic 
values and human rights wherever they are threatened.
  This evening, Mr. Pence and I hosted an event here in the Capitol to 
celebrate World Press Freedom Day. We were honored by the presence of 
Musa Klebnikov, the widow of murdered American journalist Paul 
Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia who was gunned down on a Moscow 
street in July of 2004. A Moscow court is due to hand down a verdict 
against the alleged triggermen tomorrow, and Mrs. Klebnikov spoke 
movingly about continuing her late husband's work of helping the 
Russian people by working with them to build an independent press.
  In launching this new caucus, we have been encouraged by the wide 
range of organizations and individuals such as Reporters without 
Borders, Freedom House, and the Committee to Protect Journalists, which 
have all enthusiastically endorsed this effort. But I was most 
gratified to receive a letter of support this morning from Walter 
Cronkite, the longtime CBS News anchor who is not only an American icon 
but a living symbol of the positive force that journalists can have in 
shaping our lives.
  Freedom of the press is so central to our democracy that the Framers 
enshrined it in the first amendment of our Constitution. At the time, 
there was little in the way of journalistic ethics; and newspapers were 
filled with scurrilous allegations leveled at public figures. Even so, 
our Founders understood its importance to advancing our experiment in 
democracy.
  Throughout our history, journalists have jealously guarded their 
rights and American courts have, in the main, carved out broad 
protections for the press. In the United States, the press operates 
almost as a fourth branch of government, the Fourth Estate, as it is 
called, independent of the other three and positioned as watchdogs of 
our freedom.
  The United States, as the world's oldest democracy and its greatest 
champion, has a special obligation to defend the rights of journalists 
wherever and whenever they are threatened. A free press is one of the 
most powerful forces for advancing democracy, human rights, and 
economic development, so our commitment to these larger objectives 
requires active engagement in the protection and the promotion of this 
freedom.
  These are difficult and dangerous days for reporters around the 
world. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect 
Journalists, 47 journalists were killed in 2005, most of whom were 
murdered to silence or punish them. While last year's death toll was 
lower than the 57 deaths in 2004, they were well above the yearly 
average over the last two decades. But too many have paid the ultimate 
price just for doing their jobs.
  Daniel Pearl was the Wall Street Journal's South Asia bureau chief 
and was on his way to an interview with a supposed terrorist leader 
when, on January 23, 2002, he was kidnapped by a militant group that 
claimed that he was a spy. For weeks, speculation persisted about his 
fate, until his decapitated body was found in a shallow grave outside 
Karachi in late February.
  In Algeria, Mr. Mohamed Boualem Benchicou, the former editor of Le 
Matin, was given a 2-year prison sentence for being too outspoken.

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  He has been held in El Harrach prison for the past year as his health 
deteriorates and members of his newspaper staff are routinely subject 
to interrogation by Algerian authorities and also to judicial 
harassment.
  Raul Rivero Castaneda is one of Cuba's best known dissident 
journalists. Over the years, Mr. Rivero has paid dearly for his 
commitment to providing Cuban citizens with independent, unbiased 
information. In March 2003, Rivero was arrested and charged with 
``acting against Cuban independence and attempting to divide Cuban 
territorial integrity,'' writing ``against the government,'' organizing 
``subversive meetings,'' and collaborating with U.S. diplomats. 
Sentenced to 20 years in jail, he served 8 months before being allowed 
to seek asylum in Spain in April 2005.
  These are just some of the journalists that our caucus will highlight 
and profile to bring attention to those brave, committed members of the 
press around the world who are fighting for the freedom of all of us 
and to highlight those countries where press freedom is under attack. 
We welcome all of your membership in this caucus.

                          ____________________