Update May 17: Watch video here. At 11:35 am eastern, Obama signs the Freedom of the Press act. Obama will be joined by Daniel Pearl's family members. Pearl was the Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped and murdered by terrorists. The purpose of the act is to shine a light on countries where journalists are censored and worse, killed. Look for a live stream at WhiteHouse.gov or msnbc.com.
US President Barack Obama is expected to sign the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act on Monday, meant to increase the State Department’s scrutiny of freedom of the press worldwide via its annual human rights report.Also on Obama's schedule today, he'll welcome the University of Connecticut women's basketball team at 1:05 pm.
The act is named after The Wall Street Journal reporter who was abducted and murdered by Muslim terrorists while on assignment in Pakistan in 2002. In the video of his murder and decapitation, Pearl famously said “My name is Daniel Pearl. I am a Jewish American... My father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I’m Jewish. My family follows Judaism.”
The act also calls for the secretary of state to name countries where freedom of the press is violated, and what role the governments of such countries take in carrying out or combating the infringement of that freedom.
JPost
