Bill Summary
The "World Press Freedom Protection and Reciprocity Act" aims to protect the freedom of the press globally, as well as advocating for reciprocal access for US news and media organizations in other countries. It authorizes the President to impose sanctions on foreign persons who restrict press freedoms and requires an annual report on the number of sanctions imposed and terminated. The legislation also requires an annual report on human rights practices in foreign countries, specifically focusing on freedom of expression with regards to electronic information. This report must be compiled with input from various organizations.
Possible Impacts
1. Journalists and media personnel around the world will be able to receive protection and assistance from the United States as a result of this legislation. This will help them continue to exercise their internationally-recognized right to freedom of expression without fear of restrictions or attacks from foreign governments.
2. The President will have the power to impose sanctions on foreign persons who engage in activities that limit press freedoms, such as jailing or torturing journalists. This will serve as a deterrent for these actions and send a message that the United States takes the protection of press freedoms seriously.
3. The legislation requires an annual report on human rights practices, specifically focusing on electronic information and government attempts to censor expression on the internet. This will provide important information on the state of freedom of expression around the world and help hold governments accountable for their actions.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7001 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7001
To protect and promote the freedom of the press globally.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 22, 2020
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. Suozzi) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To protect and promote the freedom of the press globally.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``World Press Freedom Protection and
Reciprocity Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person'' means an
individual who is not--
(A) a United States citizen; or
(B) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent
residence to the United States.
(2) Internationally-recognized right to the freedom of
expression.--The term ``internationally-recognized right to the
freedom of expression'' means those rights described in Article
19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
(3) Knowingly.--The term ``knowingly'' means, with respect
to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, that a person has
actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the
circumstance, or the result.
(4) Major non-nato ally.--The term ``major non-NATO ally''
means a country designated as a major non-NATO ally under
section 517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.
2321k).
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Freedom of the press is a critical component of
democratic governance and enhances transparency,
accountability, and participation of civil society.
(2) United States Government efforts to protect and expand
freedom of the press and free expression, including online, is
in the national interests of the United States by supporting
democracy, promoting good governance and public health,
mitigating conflict, and encouraging transparency and civil
society development around the world.
(3) Globally, journalists and media personnel that receive
and impart information and ideas, online and offline, face
increasing restrictions, threats, censorship, arbitrary
detention, torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial
killings, and other violence for exercising their right to
freedom of expression in accordance with Article 19 of both the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
(4) Impunity for attacks on journalists and media personnel
is an acute problem globally and a primary challenge to
protecting freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
(5) According to the press freedom rankings issued annually
by Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders, countries with
the most restrictive media and information environments include
Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, the Philippines, Saudi
Arabia, Dijbouti, Syria, Laos, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.
(6) The Government of Turkey, since a failed coup attempt
in 2016, has used terrorism and national security laws to
shutter hundreds of media outlets and jail dozens of
journalists, compounding the effects of more than a decade of
expanding ruling party influence over the ownership of
mainstream media in the country at the expense of independent
outlets.
(7) The Government of China maintains one of the most
restrictive media and information environments in the world and
seeks to control free speech inside and outside the country
through censorship, onerous media organization registration
requirements, harassment, imprisonment, conditioning of press
credential renewals for foreign journalists and media personnel
and visa issuance for foreign journalists and media personnel
on ``positive'' coverage of China, and the operation of a
digital surveillance system so pervasive that both routine and
sensitive reporting activities and many aspects of daily life
are subject to government monitoring.
(8) Russia has continued to use sophisticated tools to
block and control information online and employ draconian laws
to pressure independent media.
(9) Expansion and export of new technologies used for
censorship and digital surveillance represents a notable threat
to human rights, including press freedoms, transparency, and
democratic governance globally, and constitute a critical
challenge to United States national interests.
(10) Other countries' restrictions on the activities of
United States journalists and media personnel, other countries'
censorship and blocking of websites of United States news and
media organizations, and other restrictions on the cross-border
flow of information--
(A) damages the competitiveness of such
organizations and limits access to information critical
for United States investors, consumers, and others
making market and financial decisions; and
(B) should be considered a restriction of trade and
creating an unfair competitive advantage benefitting
State-owned or controlled news and media organizations.
(b) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States--
(1) to advocate for detained and targeted journalists and
media personnel in foreign countries, including citizen
journalists and bloggers;
(2) to call on foreign governments, in both bilateral
discussions and through multilateral organizations, to end
restrictions on the internationally-recognized right to freedom
of expression and to abide by international commitments
stipulated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights;
(3) to urge foreign governments to transparently
investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of attacks
against journalists and media personnel;
(4) to halt efforts to censor or block access to news from
United States journalists and media personnel and the websites
of United States news and media organizations;
(5) to highlight threats to freedom of the press in the
Department of State's Annual Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices, as required under section 116(d)(12) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)(12)), and other
public statements by senior Department of State officials;
(6) to seek as part of bilateral diplomatic negotiations
globally conditions for a free flow of news and information,
internet freedom, and an end to visas restrictions for United
States journalists and media personnel;
(7) to link expansion of the free flow of news and
information with ongoing and future trade agreements, and other
bilateral agreements and communiques, by seeking language
eliminating any and all limitations on market access for news
agency services and the elimination of any restrictions on
cross-border data flows involving journalists and media
personnel, including via the internet;
(8) to ensure that pursuing bilateral relationships with
foreign governments, particularly those with restrictive press
and information environments, is based on the principles of
reciprocity across many sectors of the bilateral relationship,
including economic, diplomatic, educational, religious, and in
the free flow of news and information; and
(9) to clearly differentiate, in official statements, media
communications, and messaging, between the citizens of a
country and the government of the country, for example, the
people and culture of China on the one hand and the Government
of the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of
China on the other.
SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF FOREIGN JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA PERSONNEL GLOBALLY.
(a) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States to
consider foreign government officials responsible for, complicit in, or
having directly or indirectly engaged in serious restrictions of the
internationally-recognized right to the freedom of expression, among
these arbitrary detention, imprisonment, enforced disappearance,
torture, fines, extrajudicial killing, and other substantial threats to
the life and liberty of a person, as having committed--
(1) gross violations of internationally recognized human
rights for purposes of imposing sanctions with respect to such
officials under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights
Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note); and
(2) gross violations of human rights for purposes of
imposing sanctions with respect to such officials under section
7031(c) of division F of the Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2019 (Public Law 116-6; 133 Stat. 319; 8 U.S.C. 1182 note).
(b) Assistance Authorized.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of State, acting through the
Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, to
the extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in
appropriations Acts, shall--
(A) provide assistance to foreign journalists and
media personnel who are victims of severe restrictions
on the internationally-recognized right to the freedom
of expression and to their families, including
assistance to pay for legal and other related expenses;
and
(B) support training for foreign journalists and
media personnel globally, including training to expand
the internationally-recognized right to the freedom of
expression and defend the civil and political freedoms
found in the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.
(2) Reference.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated or
otherwise made available to carry out this subsection may be
referred to as the ``Global Press Freedom Defense Fund''.
SEC. 5. PLAN TO NEGOTIATE RECIPROCAL ACCESS FOR UNITED STATES NEWS AND
MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS GLOBALLY.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) United States news and media organizations and
information portals are blocked or censored by certain foreign
governments while the United States market remains open to
websites of foreign news and media organizations and
information portals, including State-owned propaganda
organizations.
(2) The stark lack of reciprocity in market access for
United States news and media organizations and country access
for United States journalists and media personnel limits
constructive contacts between the United States and the world
and allows some foreign governments unbalanced influence over
their people's views of the United States and perceptions in
the United States of their policies and programs.
(3) Foreign governments with a sizable media and
information footprint in the United States have a distinct
interest in maintaining that footprint.
(4) Greater quotients of reciprocity in the flow of news
and information will be mutually advantageous in United States
relations with countries such as China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran,
Russia, Vietnam, and Turkmenistan by fostering interactions
that will create greater understanding, trust, and
transparency.
(b) Plans.--
(1) In general.--The President shall establish a plan to
negotiate access for United States news and media organizations
and their employees globally and work to enhance reciprocity
for news and media organizations operating in the United
States.
(2) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report that
summarizes the plan required under paragraph (1).
(3) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that,
in the interest of increasing access for United States news and
media organizations and their employees globally and otherwise
expanding press freedoms globally, the President should
proactively pursue bilateral agreements with governments of
foreign countries to enhance reciprocity for news and media
organizations operating in the United States.
(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on
Financial Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the
Committee on Homeland Security, and the Committee on the
Judiciary of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Foreign
Relations, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.
(a) In General.--The President shall impose the sanctions described
in subsection (b) with respect to any foreign person the President
determines, based on credible evidence--
(1) is responsible for the jailing, killing, or torture of
journalists or media personnel or significant efforts to harass
or restrict the activities, terminate the visas, or threaten
the safety of journalists or media personnel, including United
States journalists or media personnel;
(2) acted as an agent, or on behalf, of a foreign person in
a matter relating to an activity described in paragraph (1); or
(3) is a government official, or a senior associate of such
an official, that is responsible for or complicit in, ordering,
controlling, or otherwise directing an activity described in
paragraph (1).
(b) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions to be imposed with respect
to a foreign person under subsection (a) are the following:
(1) The foreign person is--
(A) inadmissible to the United States;
(B) ineligible to receive a visa or other
documentation to enter the United States; and
(C) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled
into the United States or to receive any other benefit
under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1101 et seq.).
(2) The foreign person is subject to the following:
(A) Revocation of any visa or other entry
documentation regardless of when the visa or other
entry documentation is or was issued.
(B) A revocation under subparagraph (A) shall--
(i) take effect immediately; and
(ii) automatically cancel any other valid
visa or entry documentation that is in the
foreign person's possession.
(c) Exceptions.--Sanctions under subsection (b) shall not apply to
a foreign person if admitting or paroling the person into the United
States--
(1) is necessary to permit the United States to comply with
the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force
November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United
States, or any other applicable international obligation of the
United States; or
(2) is necessary to carry out or assist law enforcement
activity in the United States.
(d) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of sanctions
imposed with respect to a foreign person under subsection (b) if the
President--
(1) determines that such a waiver is in the national
interest of the United States; and
(2) not later than the date on which such waiver will take
effect, submits a notice of and justification for such waiver
to the appropriate congressional committees.
(e) Termination of Sanctions.--
(1) In general.--The President may terminate the
application of sanctions under subsection (b) with respect to a
foreign person if the President makes a determination that--
(A) credible information exists that the person did
not engage in the activity for which visa ineligibility
was imposed;
(B) the person has been prosecuted appropriately
for the activity for which visa ineligibility was
imposed;
(C) the person has--
(i) credibly demonstrated a significant
change in behavior;
(ii) been subject to an appropriate
consequence for the activity for which visa
ineligibility was imposed; and
(iii) credibly committed to not engage in
an activity described in that subsection in the
future; or
(D) the termination of the application of sanctions
is in the national security interests of the United
States.
(2) Notification.--Not later than 15 days before the date
on which the application of sanctions is terminated under
paragraph (1) with respect to a foreign person, the Secretary
of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives
and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on the
Judiciary of the Senate a report that--
(A) describes the evidence and justification for
the necessity of the termination; and
(B) explains how the termination of the application
of sanctions is in the national security interests of
the United States.
(f) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 years,
the President shall submit to the congressional committees
specified in subsection (e)(2) a report that identifies the
exact number of foreign persons with respect to which sanctions
have been imposed under subsection (b) during the preceding
year and the exact number of foreign persons with respect to
which sanctions that have been terminated under subsection (c)
during the preceding year, including their country of origin
and the dates on which such sanctions were imposed or
terminated, as the case may be.
(2) Form.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex.
(3) Exclusion of personally identifiable information.--The
President may not include any personally identifiable
information of any United States citizen in any of the reports
submitted under paragraph (1).
(4) Privacy act.--Any information obtained by the President
to complete the report required under paragraph (1) shall be
subject to section 552a of title 5, United States Code
(commonly known as the ``Privacy Act'').
SEC. 7. CLEAR LABELING FOR INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED ON
BEHALF OF FOREIGN PRINCIPALS.
Section 4(b) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22
U.S.C. 614(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following new
sentence: ``Informational materials which are required to be labeled
under this subsection shall be labeled, marked, or stamped
conspicuously at the top of the first page of such materials with a
statement in the language or languages used therein, setting forth such
information as is required under this subsection.''.
SEC. 8. ANNUAL COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.
(a) Report Relating to Economic Assistance.--Section 116 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n) is amended by adding
at the end the following new subsection:
``(h)(1) The report required by subsection (d) shall include an
assessment of freedom of expression with respect to electronic
information in each foreign country. Such assessment shall consist of
the following:
``(A) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in each country attempt to filter, censor, or
otherwise block or remove nonviolent expression of political or
religious opinion or belief via the internet, including
electronic mail, as well as a description of the means by which
such authorities attempt to block or remove such expression.
``(B) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in each country have persecuted or otherwise
punished an individual or group for the nonviolent expression
of political, religious, or ideological opinion or belief via
the internet, including electronic mail.
``(C) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in each country have sought to collect, request,
obtain, or disclose personally identifiable information of a
person in connection with such person's nonviolent expression
of political, religious, or ideological opinion or belief,
including expression that would be protected by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.
``(D) An assessment of the extent to which wire
communications and electronic communications are monitored
without regard to the principles of privacy, human rights,
democracy, and rule of law, to the extent these practices are
known.
``(2) In compiling data and making assessments for the purposes of
paragraph (1), United States diplomatic personnel shall consult with
human rights organizations, technology and internet companies, and
other appropriate nongovernmental organizations.
``(3) In this subsection--
``(A) the term `electronic communication' has the meaning
given such term in section 2510 of title 18, United States
Code;
``(B) the term `internet' has the meaning given such term
in section 231(e)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 231(e)(3));
``(C) the term `personally identifiable information' means
data in a form that identifies a particular person; and
``(D) the term `wire communication' has the meaning given
such term in section 2510 of title 18, United States Code.''.
(b) Report Relating to Security Assistance.--Section 502B of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304) is amended--
(1) by redesignating the second subsection (i) (relating to
child marriage status) as subsection (j); and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(k)(1) The report required by subsection (b) shall include an
assessment of freedom of expression with respect to electronic
information in each foreign country. Such assessment shall consist of
the following:
``(A) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in each country attempt to filter, censor, or
otherwise block or remove nonviolent expression of political or
religious opinion or belief via the internet, including
electronic mail, as well as a description of the means by which
such authorities attempt to block or remove such expression.
``(B) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in each country have persecuted or otherwise
punished an individual or group for the nonviolent expression
of political, religious, or ideological opinion or belief via
the internet, including electronic mail.
``(C) An assessment of the extent to which government
authorities in each country have sought to collect, request,
obtain, or disclose personally identifiable information of a
person in connection with such person's nonviolent expression
of political, religious, or ideological opinion or belief,
including expression that would be protected by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.
``(D) An assessment of the extent to which wire
communications and electronic communications are monitored
without regard to the principles of privacy, human rights,
democracy, and rule of law, to the extent these practices are
known.
``(2) In compiling data and making assessments for the purposes of
paragraph (1), United States diplomatic personnel shall consult with
human rights organizations, technology and internet companies, and
other appropriate nongovernmental organizations.
``(3) In this subsection, the terms `electronic communication',
`internet', `personally identifiable information', and `wire
communication' have the meanings given such terms in section
116(h)(3).''.
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