(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 16 July 2004 IAPA press release: IAPA asks United States to waive restriction against foreign journalists Miami (July 16, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) asked today that the U.S. State Department reverse its decision to require foreign journalists to leave the country in order to renew […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 16 July 2004 IAPA press release:
IAPA asks United States to waive restriction against foreign journalists
Miami (July 16, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) asked today that the U.S. State Department reverse its decision to require foreign journalists to leave the country in order to renew their visas, since this hinders and impedes the freedom to practice journalism.
In a letter sent to the Secretary of State, Colin L. Powell, IAPA President Jack Fuller, from the Tribune Publishing Company, in Chicago, Illinois, stressed that this action creates a barrier for the free flow of information and could lead to other countries implementing similar requirements against U.S. journalists.
The following is an excerpt from the letter:
“Our organization believes that this action conflicts with the Declaration of Chapultepec, which contains ten principles on freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and specifically, its Fifth Principle, which states, ‘Prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists directly contradict freedom of the press.’
“The essence of this principle is also included in the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights, to which the United States is a signatory.
“The IAPA, along with other international press freedom organizations, has been asking Congress in its annual renewal of the Visa Waiver Program to add journalists to the many professions who do not need a visa for short stays in our country, considering that historically journalists have been exempt from this program and because it impedes their entry into the country which is dangerous to our notion of an open society and at the same time can lead to other countries enacting reciprocal measures against U.S. journalists.
“Our First Amendment must guarantee freedom and equality for all foreign correspondents,” Fuller concluded.
