President Biden on Wednesday marked World Press Freedom Day by acknowledging two American reporters who have been detained abroad and touted the free press as a “pillar of democracy.”
Biden in a statement highlighted the cases of Evan Gershkovich and Austin Tice. Gershkovich is a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia on espionage charges for more than a month. The administration has labeled Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained.”
Tice is a freelance journalist and veteran who was kidnapped in 2012 while reporting in Syria.
“Journalism is not a crime — it is fundamental to a free society,” Biden said in a statement.
“Evan Gershkovich and Austin Tice weigh heavy on my mind today,” he added. “No family should have to endure the pain I’ve seen their families bear. But in far too many places around the world, autocrats and their enablers continue to repress a free and independent media — through censorship, retribution, threats, lawsuits, harassment, disinformation, detention, and physical attacks.”
The president said his administration is providing funding for the Promoting Information Integrity and Resilience Initiative, which aims to support independent media and strengthen global efforts to fight disinformation while helping journalists do their jobs safely.
“Today — and every day — we must all stand with journalists around the world,” Biden said. “We must all speak out against those who wish to silence them.”
“And we must all continue to support a free press that is essential to our democracy and democracies everywhere,” he added.
Biden’s statement comes just days after the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington where the president also spoke about press freedom and the First Amendment. Family members of Gershkovich and Tice attended the dinner and were recognized with standing ovations.