World Press Freedom Day: The U.S. Must Lead By Example
From Wikileaks, via the PLF from EFF:
“And while the State Department said today that they “advocate for freedom of expression and raise media freedom issues, including specific cases, in bilateral discussions with other governments and in multilateral bodies,” the administration has come under fire for lobbyingthe Yemeni government to keep a prominent Yemeni journalist Abd al-Ilah Haydar Al-Sha’i in jail. Al-Sha’i has aggressively covered civilian casualties resulting from US drone strikes in the region and has previously working for multiple US publications such as ABC News and the Washington Post.
On the local level in the U.S., many police departments have engaged in heavy-handed tactics against the press covering political protests, most notably Occupy Wall Street protests. Journalists have been harrassed, assaulted and over 70 have been arrested. An assortment of news organizations led by the New York Times have formally complained to the NYPD about such behavior, and a recent lawsuit alleges constitutional violations stemming from such incidents.
These arrests caused the U.S. to plummet 27 places in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom rankings to 47th overall.”
