This is the latest installment of our press freedom round-up, recapping the latest attacks on journalists, their right to publish, and our right to know. Here’s the news for the week of October 12, 2024.
Daniel Hale to receive the inaugural Ellsberg Whistleblower Award
Daniel Hale is announced as the first recipient of the International Ellsberg Whistleblower Award launched by The Reva and David Logan Foundation, the taz Panther Foundation, the Wau Holland Foundation and Whistleblower-Netzwerk.
In 2014, Hale passed classified U.S. military documents to reporters at The Intercept, upon which The Intercept published The Drone Papers, giving the public an unvarnished window into the secretive U.S. remote assassination program, including how it selects targets to kill based on poor evidence, due to which 9 out of 10 drone casualties were innocent bystanders.
For his whistleblowing, Hale was indicted under the 1917 US Espionage Act and convicted to a 45-month prison sentence in 2021. He was released from prison in February 2024 after serving 33 months of his sentence, from which he is now recovering.
UK police raid home, seize devices of journalist Asa Winstanley
British counterterrorism police raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley.
A letter addressed to Winstanley from the “Counter Terrorism Command” of the Metropolitan Police Service indicates that the authorities are “aware of your profession” as a journalist but that “notwithstanding, police are investigating possible offenses” under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006). These provisions set out the purported offense of “encouragement of terrorism.”
Earlier this year, a number of reporters and activists in the UK, among others independent journalists Richard Medhurst and Sarah Wilkinson, and Richard Barnard have been arrested and/or charged with violating the Terrorism Act.
Rep. Jim McGovern leading a letter urging Israel to allow independent access for journalists
Drop Site News, Defending Rights and Dissent and Just Foreign Policy have initiated an action to write to Congress in support of the Rep. Jim McGovern letter to President Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken asking them to urge Israel to allow independent access for journalists.
“The absence of foreign media reporting has created significant challenges in obtaining accurate, verifiable information from Gaza, leading to increased skepticism about the limited reports that do emerge.”
Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchina dies in in Russian captivity
Journalist Viktoria Roshchina reportedly died on September 19 while being transferred from southwestern city of Taganrog to Moscow for a prisoner exchange. Following the news of Roshchina’s death, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement demanding from Russian authorities to immediately disclose the circumstances surrounding Roshchina’s death in Russian captivity.
At least 16 journalists and media workers have been killed covering the war since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to CPJ research.
Press freedom groups write to US embassy in Israel over detained US journalist Jeremy Loffredo
The Courage Foundation, Defending Rights & Dissent and the Freedom of the Press Foundation sent a letter to the US Embassy in Jerusalem over the ongoing detention of U.S. journalist Jeremy Loffredo.
“We, the undersigned press freedom and free expression organizations, are writing to express our urgent concern with the situation of US journalist Jeremy Loffredo.
“Loffredo was arrested for reporting on the impact of Iranian missile strikes in Israel. Loffredo’s actions were well within the standard realm of journalism and would have been protected by the First Amendment in the United States.
“Reporting news to the public that a government doesn’t like is not aiding the enemy. It is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes to equate independent journalism with aiding a foreign enemy.”
RCFP urges Congress to pass PRESS Act
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) again urged members of Congress to pass a bipartisan shield bill that would establish robust federal protections for the newsgathering rights of journalists.
In separate letters sent to the U.S. Senate & U.S. House of Representatives RCFP and 107 press rights organizations expressed strong support for the PRESS Act, which passed the House in January and is currently pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.