Obama Signs Bill Intended to Promote Free Press

[LeighAnn]

Source: NY Times

President Obama signed legislation on Monday intended to promote free press around the world, a bipartisan measure inspired by the murder in Pakistan of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act requires the State Department to expand its scrutiny of media restrictions and intimidation as part of its annual review of human rights in each country. Among other things, the department will be required to determine whether foreign governments participate in or condone violations of press freedom.

The new law “puts us clearly on the side of journalistic freedom” Mr. Obama said, praising Mr. Pearl’s family for being “outspoken and so courageous” in pursuing the cause that mattered so much to the slain journalist. With the law, the president added, “his legacy lives on.”

Mr. Obama was joined in the Oval Office by Mr. Pearl’s widow, Mariane, and the son he never met, Adam, who was born several months after his father’s death and will turn eight later this month. Mr. Pearl’s parents, Judea and Ruth, and sisters, Michelle and Tamara, were also on hand.



Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/obama-signs-bill-aimed-to-promote-free-press/