In a resolution adopted at its January 23 meeting in Washington, D.C., the North American Committee of the International Press Institute expressed concern over a series of recent events that threaten media freedom and free speech in the United States:
- The decision of Block Communications Inc. to cease publication of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, leaving a significant hole in the news landscape of western Pennsylvania. We call for urgent efforts to secure new funding and business models to keep the historic Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper alive.
- The Pentagon’s decision to take direct control of Stars and Stripes, turning the formerly independent 165-year-old newspaper serving the U.S. military into a de facto propaganda arm of the Department of Defense. Along with the Trump administration’s decisions to hamper and eviscerate publicly funded broadcasters overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the administration action shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the importance of independence for media to serve as a trusted source of news for its audience.
- The unusual and highly aggressive search and seizure of electronic devices from the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on January 14 in a purported investigation of one of her sources, a government contractor. The search bore hallmarks of a fishing expedition to acquire information on all of Natanson’s sources in order to suppress criticism of the administration and raised profound concerns for the protection of sources and whistleblowers from government overreach.
The IPI North American Committee calls on all government and elected officials to respect the traditions of media freedom enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as a bulwark of American liberty, and urges renewed public support for fact-based independent journalism to help maintain a well-informed and healthy democracy in the United States.