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.
The United States could do more to combat spyware used by governments to surveil the press
Bipartisan sponsors should be commended for supporting press freedom
Recent report marks welcome change from Justice’s past anti-press positions
Assange's prosecution should be condemned by all who believe in press freedom
Supreme Court kicks Section 230 can down the road
Potential for surveillance underscores need for federal shield law
Credible American leadership needed to curb disturbing trend.
With a reporter surveillance scandal of its own embroiling Biden’s Department of Justice, it’s now more important than ever for his administration to throw its weight behind passing a journalist shield law such as Senator Ron Wyden’s PRESS Act.
Lawmakers called for modernization and an answer to a “basic question about how FOIA is operating in the context of new technology.”
Sen. Ron Wyden calls the Justice Department’s inaction on key press freedom issue “extremely frustrating, and frankly unacceptable”