Biden’s press freedom legacy: Empty words and hypocrisy

Joe Biden by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Biden administration helped create a road map for criminalizing journalism.
Despite accomplishments such as freeing journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva from Russia and strengthening internal government guidelines on legal demands to journalists, former President Joe Biden’s press freedom record was decidedly mixed.
Among other failures, Biden’s continued prosecution of Julian Assange under the Espionage Act helped create a road map to criminalize reporting; he routinely put exaggerated national security concerns over the First Amendment; and he allowed the Israeli military to kill journalists in Gaza without consequence from the U.S.
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A new FPF video explains exactly how the Espionage Act charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange endanger journalists and news outlets
Letter from legal scholars explains how prosecuting Julian Assange threatens press freedom
As more and more journalists are killed and the international press remains shut out of Gaza, the time is now for the Biden administration to pressure Israel to act
Special project from U.S. Press Freedom Tracker collects and reports on press freedom aggressions by candidates and their teams running in 2024 federal elections
The deaths of more than 80 journalists in the Israel-Gaza War are horrific and shameful
Letter to Biden from leading press freedom and human rights orgs urges administration to protect journalists’ lives and right to report
Officials choose to look the other way rather than find out whether Israeli forces are targeting the press
The Biden administration has yet to meaningfully comment, let alone act, on the unprecedented journalist casualties in Gaza. That needs to change.
Despite ongoing efforts by the news media, most of Trump’s trials probably won’t be televised. That’s a shame