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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Blinken-Press Freedom
HEADLINE: Students Challenge US Secretary of State on Press Freedom Support
TEASER: As Antony Blinken condemns threats to press freedom in some Latin American countries, others question how the US has stood up for journalists elsewhere
PUBLISHED AT: 6/8/22, 7:58 pm
BYLINE: Cindy Saine
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE:
VIDEOGRAPHER:
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath, Jepsen
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Saine Skype video interview, AP, AFP, Reuters
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:38
VID APPROVED BY: Holly Franko
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO))
[[Speaking to student journalists on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced questions such as why the United States deals with countries that have allegedly killed journalists, like Saudi Arabia, while condemning others — like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — for threatening press freedom. VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.))
((NARRATOR))
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with a number of his counterparts in Los Angeles at the Summit of the Americas. But the U.S. has singled out Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, excluding them from the summit. Blinken noted that 17 media workers have been killed this year in the Western Hemisphere. Eleven of those were killed in Mexico.
((Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State))
“No region in the world is more dangerous for journalists. Crimes like these persist in no small part because the people who order them and carry them out are so rarely held accountable — that sends the message that these attacks can continue with impunity."
((NARRATOR))
At the student journalists’ forum, Blinken was asked why America’s close ally Israel has faced no repercussions over the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
((Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State))
"I deplore the loss of Shireen. She was a remarkable journalist, an American citizen, as you well know. And there, too, we are determined to follow the facts and get to the truth of what happened. No, they [the facts of the killing] have not. No, I'm sorry, with respect, they have not yet been established.”
((NARRATOR))
A CNN report on the killing cited witnesses who said Abu Akleh had been shot to death in what appeared to be a targeted attack by Israeli forces. Israel strongly denies the allegations and says it is investigating the killing, which has ignited outrage and protests.
U.S. President Joe Biden is weighing plans to visit Saudi Arabia, despite saying he would make Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a pariah over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Experts say this is another test case to watch to gauge the president's commitment to freedom of the press.
((Rachel Oswald, National Press Club Journalism Institute)) ((Skype))
“But the desire to lower gas prices is really bringing an interesting tension between what the administration had said on the one hand would be a human rights-based foreign policy and a policy that serves the middle class, while the middle class in America really hates four-, five- even six-dollar a gallon gas.”
((NARRATOR))
Experts say soaring gasoline prices are likely one of the factors behind Biden’s shift on meeting with the Saudi crown prince.
Cindy Saine, VOA News
NewsML Media TopicsHuman Interest
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJune 8, 2022 20:06 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
