Reuters has teamed up with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and a coalition of over 30 media, technology and nonprofit partners for the ‘Protect Press Freedom’ campaign, which launched today.
The campaign is aimed at mobilizing the “public to stand for press freedom and actively protect their right to be informed.” The launch comes at a time of increasing challenges to press freedom around the world. At ProtectPressFreedom.org, visitors can learn about these threats, explore key moments of the free press in America’s history and test their knowledge of the issues.
“Attacks on journalists’ safety and the public’s right to know occur with troubling regularity. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker…there were at least 35 physical attacks on journalists last year, most notably the murder of five people working at the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland. So far in 2019, at least 28 journalists have been denied access to government events that are traditionally open to or attended by the press, leaving members of the public without crucial information about their government’s activities,” the RCFP and CPJ said in an announcement about the campaign, adding that “despite the attacks on press freedom in this country, a majority (52%) of Americans do not believe that it is currently under threat.”
To find out more about the Protect Press Freedom campaign, visit https://ProtectPressFreedom.org. To learn more about press freedom issues around the world, visit www.rcfp.org/ and cpj.org/.
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heather.carpenter@thomsonreuters.com
[Reuters PR Blog Post]