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Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act

18 juin 2010, 00:00

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Journalists and bloggers around the world will remember May 17, 2010, as a celebration of their vocation, their commitment to truth, and their right to information.  On that day, President Barack Obama signed  legislation that reinforced the commitment of the United States of America to ensure freedom of the press, including bloggers, around the world—the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act. 

The world has come to know Daniel Pearl as the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped by terrorists in Pakistan in early 2002, just four months after 9/11. People around the world, along with his pregnant wife Mariane and family, prayed for his release, but he was murdered nine days later. Since then, he has been remembered as a symbol of hope: a writer, a gifted musician, and a man who built bridges between diverse cultures.  Following his murder, Daniel Pearl''''s family and friends established a foundation in his name to carry on his legacy, using music and words to address the root causes of the hatred that took his life.

Press freedom ranks high among the priorities of the U.S. Embassy as it does for the U.S. Government.  This year for World Press Freedom Day we hosted a dynamic digital video conference on press freedom and elections in conjunction with the May 5th general elections in Mauritius.  Last year, in October, we hosted Annenberg Fellow and media analyst Ellen Hume who traveled to Mauritius as part of the U.S. Department of State Speaker Program to run workshops and consultations on press freedom and journalism ethics. 

 Last year, on October 24, 2009, the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis celebrated its very first Daniel Pearl World Music Day with an unforgettable concert at the Indira Gandhi Center for Indian Culture in Phoenix, marked, I am told, by ad lib performances by amazing artists including Eric Triton, the Kreol Jazz Pioneers, Gina Jean Charles, La Foule and Black Men Bluez.

At the signing of the Freedom of the Press Act on May 17, President Obama observed that “All around the world there are enormously courageous journalists and bloggers who, at great risk to themselves, are trying to shine a light on the critical issues that the people of their country face who are the frontlines against tyranny and oppression. And obviously the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world’s imagination because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is, and it reminded us that there are those who would go to any length in order to silence journalists around the world.”  He added that the bill directs the U.S. Department of State to evaluate how press freedom is respected as part of the United States’ human rights assessment, and to hold the actions of countries that repress freedom of the press accountable before world opinion.  The Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act sends a strong message from the U.S. government to other nations that America is paying attention to how the press is operating around the world.

The Republic of Mauritius is a mature democracy that has the privilege of being home to a vibrant media with an assortment of newspapers, radio stations and a buzzing blogosphere, prompting the emergence of citizen journalism.  According to the Freedom House Press Freedom world ranking for 2008, Mauritius ranked 54th out of 195 countries in the world, and qualified as “free,” the highest ranking of the African countries on the Freedom House scale.  That is something to be proud of, but   Mauritius, like all vibrant democracies, has the potential to do even better. 

As John Stuart Mill wrote in his essay In Liberty (1859):

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race posterity as well as the existing generation those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it.  If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth:  if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”


Daniel Pearl had a vision, that of a well-informed citizenry able to make choices and hold governments accountable.  Through the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, and thanks to his family, friends, and former colleagues, his legacy lives on.