Threats to Press Freedom in America

According to Reporters Without Borders, an international organization dedicated to the protection of press freedom and journalists around the world, approximately one-third of the world’s people live in a country with no press freedom. Most often, these countries are in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, where laws restricting press freedom are generally wide open to interpretation, giving governments extensive power to censor news media and to press charges against journalists in the course of their work.

One example of these laws is security laws, which “aim to prosecute the press for violating national security, state interests, public order, or even public values” (Guida). The wording of these laws works in the governments’ favor, enabling them to censor and attack news organizations and journalists for anything deemed objectionable in their eyes (Guida). A bill in Cameroon would “ban newspapers that attack the public order or that violate good behavior and values” (Guida).

Another type of law with the goal of restricting press freedom is insult laws, which “penalize reporters for insulting or violating privacy of officials” (Guida). These laws can often result in charges against journalists who expose corrupt officials rather than indictment of the official (Guida). Croatia’s Parliament approved a libel law allowing legal proceedings for “offending or slandering the president, parliament speaker, prime minister or judges” (Guida).