[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 188 (Thursday, November 29, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7218-S7219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Freedom of the Press

  Mr. President, I thank my dear friend, the senior Senator from Iowa, 
Senator Grassley, who is going to speak but said I could go ahead, and 
I will. I will be brief.
  In the 44 years I have served in the Senate, I have never been so 
concerned about the state of press freedom around the world, including, 
I deeply regret to say, in our own country.
  I was brought up in a family that owned a weekly newspaper and owned 
a printing business. The First Amendment was the most important part of 
our Constitution because it promised the freedom of speech and it 
promised the diversity of religion, and that Amendment was the 
foundation of our democracy.
  Yet the premeditated murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi by 
Saudi authorities and then their ridiculous, transparent attempt to 
cover it up have shocked the consciences of people everywhere. 
Yesterday, by voting to discharge S.J. Res. 54, the Senate demonstrated 
that the Saudi royal family needs to hold accountable all those who are 
responsible for that horrific crime if it wants to salvage relations 
with the United States.
  Look at what happens if we don't speak out in defense of a free 
press. Just a few days after Mr. Khashoggi's murder, the body of 
Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova was discovered. The 
investigation suggests that she was raped, beaten, and strangled. I 
think the motive is undeniable. She had spent the previous year 
reporting on corruption.
  According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, so far, in 2018, 
at least 43 journalists have been killed for their work while 15 other 
journalists have also been killed, although their deaths have not yet, 
at least, been officially linked to their work. According to data 
compiled by Freedom House, the muzzling of journalists and independent 
news media is at its worst point in over a decade. Similarly, according 
to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the number of reporters who 
have been jailed for their work--who have been jailed for being 
reporters doing their

[[Page S7219]]

job--is at a level that has not been seen since the 1990s. Strongmen 
around the world are cracking down with impunity. Frankly, this son of 
a printer, this son of a newspaper owner, is not surprised.
  At home, President Trump regularly demonizes the news media. He calls 
the news media the enemy of the people and hopes that his acidic 
outbursts and threats will dissuade journalists from accurately 
reporting on his administration. With the eyes of the world upon him, 
he makes a mockery of the entire notion of an independent press. It is 
something that has been guaranteed in our Constitution since the 
beginning of our country, yet the President makes a mockery of it.
  He brands anybody who challenges him as either a liar or worse, while 
he holds hands with those who are willing to sing his praises. He even 
went so far as to rescind the credentials of one reporter who persisted 
in asking questions the President didn't like. I have been here with 
eight different Presidents, and I have never seen that done before, not 
even with Watergate.
  A few days ago, he publicly denigrated the decorated, retired U.S. 
admiral who led the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and who had dared 
to criticize the President's attacks against the press as being a grave 
threat to our democracy, which it is. So this President who avoided the 
draft five times demeans the Admiral who was in charge of the raid that 
killed Osama bin Laden.
  As Americans who cherish the First Amendment and who rely on a free 
press for sustaining our democratic form of government, we should be 
appalled. The words of a President matter. They always have. Yet this 
President's rhetoric gives comfort to autocrats the world over who are 
emboldened to clamp down on dissent, as they are confident they have a 
powerful defender in the United States as they censor and jail 
journalists.
  We have seen despots quote our President. Can you imagine? We 
Americans see autocrats in other countries quote our President about 
this. We see them pass laws outlawing so-called fake news, which their 
leaders use to justify dismissing and castigating reporting with whom 
they disagree in order to persecute their political opponents.
  We should fear the day when a free press is seen as unimportant or as 
a luxury--as something no longer synonymous with our country and its 
values. We must always recommit ourselves to defending press freedom 
and to elevating and celebrating a free press as one of the 
cornerstones of our democracy.
  Americans should not be silenced just because our President, for the 
first time in history, demeans and tries to intimidate the press. We 
must stand up, as the Founders of this country and as every leader in 
this country up to now has done, and defend a free press.
  In this challenging time for press freedom around the world, the 
Committee to Protect Journalists honored four exceptional journalists 
at the 2018 International Press Freedom Awards in New York City.
  One is Amal Khalifa, who is the cofounder of the Sudanese Journalists 
Network, which has covered protests of official wrongdoing in Sudan, 
whose leader, President al-Bashir, has been indicted by the 
International Criminal Court. Because of her reporting, she has been 
harassed, detained, and physically abused by Sudanese authorities, but 
she still does her job at great personal peril.
  Anastasiya Stanko is an independent broadcast journalist who was 
taken hostage by an armed group while she reported on the conflict in 
eastern Ukraine. Since her release, she has continued to risk her 
safety and her life by reporting on the war and on other human rights 
violations in conflict-torn areas by Ukraine's Security Service.
  Luz Mely Reyes is an investigative reporter who founded an 
independent news website to bring attention to the political situation 
in her country of Venezuela. In 2017, while she covered protests 
against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, members of her team were 
attacked and threatened, but she courageously continued her work. She 
has since emerged as one of Venezuela's most recognized champions of 
independent journalism.
  Lastly, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, one of Vietnam's most prominent 
independent bloggers, has devoted her life to calling attention to 
human rights violations in Vietnam. In October 2016, she was sentenced 
to 10 years in prison on charges of propagandizing against the state. 
After her health began to deteriorate she was released from prison, but 
only on the condition of exile.
  We often speak about the abuses of repressive governments around the 
world. We must also speak out against the increasing attempts to demean 
and intimidate the press here at home. The President may continue to do 
that as the leaders of some other countries do, but we should not stand 
for it.
  Our democracy depends on a free press. The lives of these four brave 
individuals remind us of what is at stake. We must stand up for what is 
right even when our President does not.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.