Happy Sunday to you all! I ask for your indulgence for a moment as we have a song to share that I hope will leave you smiling. The legendary rock band that performs this week's song upholds an ideal that I very much support: a free and independent press. And, not coincidentally, they’re re-releasing — on World Press Freedom Day — one of their hits, to help journalists. Trust me — there are not many songs, much less hits, that check all those boxes. World Press Freedom Day was established by the United Nations in 1993 to “raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” The need to raise awareness about the plight of journalists and the state of journalism around the world could not come at a more critical time. Sadly, one needs to look no farther than our own backyard, where freedom of the press is under constant and organized attack by the Trump administration. Case in point: In March, Trump signed an executive order that effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for Global Media. It is an umbrella organization for federally funded news outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, which collectively reach 420 million people, in 100 countries, in 63 languages. USAGM’s mission is to provide pro-democracy journalism to parts of the globe where a free press is threatened or nonexistent. The agency has sued the administration to have the congressionally allocated funding released. Last week, a federal judge ruled in their favor, and then Trump countersued. Right now the money and the fates of those broadcasters and their journalists are in limbo. In a letter to USAGM’s Trump-appointed overseer, the heads of the various broadcasters begged for help. “Our journalists are terrified that the withdrawal of support from their employers will lead to harassment, prison, and worse,” the letter stated. The plea so far has fallen on deaf ears, but some help is coming from another quarter. In 1981, a fledgling alternative rock band out of Athens, Georgia, debuted its first single, “Radio Free Europe.” The song became one of many hits for R.E.M. To celebrate World Press Freedom Day and raise money and awareness for the embattled Radio Free Europe, R.E.M. decided to make a remix of the hit, along with a new video that highlights the important work of these brave journalists. R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe explained why to CBS News: “We love journalism. We love freedom of speech, and we love the world.” I have known Stipe and bandmate Mike Mills for many years and can vouch for them and their group as great gentlemen and performers … even though they once wrote a song about your narrator, which I regretfully agreed to perform with them on late-night television. Live and learn.
No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading, watching, and listening. Stay Steady, Dan |
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