President Barack Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act on Monday, with the family of the slain Wall Street Journal reporter attending the Oval Office event.
Kenneth Bazinet of the New York Daily News writes, “The new law requires the State Department to list annually the nations and governments who threaten press freedoms.
“‘What this act does is it sends a strong message from the United States government and from the State Department that we are paying attention to how other governments are operating when it comes to the press,’ Obama told reporters.
“‘Often times without this kind of attention, countries and governments feel that they can operate against the press with impunity. And we want to send a message that they can’t,’ Obama added, declining to take any questions from the press pool.
“Pearl was beheaded in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002. Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed confessed to allegedly killing Pearl.”
