Here is what AP has done this year to support press freedom:
We're standing for the right of the press and public to speak freely without government retaliation. After the White House sought to limit AP's access to cover presidential events earlier this year, we took a stand to defend all Americans' First Amendment rights. A court ruled in our favor, and the government is appealing that ruling, with a hearing set for later this month.
We're calling for journalist access to Gaza. Earlier this year AP joined over 200 global news organizations urging unrestricted access for international journalists to report in Gaza, because independent journalists provide crucial eyewitness reporting. And after Israeli strikes on a hospital in Gaza killed five journalists, including one of our own, we continue to demand a clear account from the Israeli authorities of what happened.
We're reporting from countries where press freedom is under pressure. AP journalists are on the ground in China, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Russia and other places where we continue to report the facts to ensure that the public has independent and accurate information.
And we're pushing for transparency where access is limited. In Washington, we joined virtually every other major news outlet in declining to agree to the Pentagon's new press policy, which undermines AP's core values as an independent news organization and impedes the public's right to know. And, in Idaho, a federal judge ruled that prison officials must allow AP and other journalists to witness lethal injection procedures, a victory for government transparency.
We do this work because you deserve access to trustworthy information, and because we believe that accurate, independent journalism is essential to civil society.
Will you stand with us for press freedom?
