INTERNET SITES ON
DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS THEMES

Please note that USIA assumes no responsibility for the content and availability of those non-USIA resources listed below which reside solely with the providers.


Click on "E" for English, "F" for French, and "S" for Spanish texts.


Fundamental U.S. Documents

U.S. Constitution
E | F | S
Bill of Rights
E | F | S
Declaration of Independence
E | F | S
The Federalist Papers




U.S. Government

Executive Branch


Legislative Branch
U.S. Senate
U.S. House of Representatives
Judicial Branch


The Cabinet
Cabinet Departments

Related Sites for Organizations Devoted to Freedom of the Press

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Supports journalists who have been subject to human rights violations. Serves as a liaison with press groups worldwide and exchanges information. Releases reports on press conditions in countries around the world and maintains a database and speakers' bureau. Produces a publication, released in March each year, titled, Attacks on the Press, a comprehensive country-by-country breakdown of threats to free press.

Freedom Forum
Supports journalism education for reporters around the world. Also promotes free press rights through projects, programs and publications and by funding grant proposals. Also operates the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center and the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial.

Freedom House
Surveys free press and other political rights and civil liberties throughout the world. Publishes a widely-disseminated and respected annual report on relative freedom in countries around the world. Holds seminars on freedom of the press and other civil liberties topics. Maintains an archive on press freedom issues.

International Center for Foreign Journalists (ICFJ)
Formerly known as the Center for Foreign Journalists, the ICFJ works to strengthen quality of journalism worldwide through professional training and exchanges. In particular, ICFJ designs fellowship programs for American and foreign journalists, the most prominent of which is the Knight-Ridder International Press Fellowship Program.

International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF)
Works to strengthen the role of women in the news media worldwide based on the belief that the press cannot be truly free unless women enjoy the same opportunities as men to cover issues of importance to the public. Strives to create networks among women dedicated to journalism. Sponsors programs for women journalists in Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, Africa, Latin America and the United States.

The Organization of News Ombudsmen
With an international membership of 64 active and associate members in the United States, Canada, Japan, Israel, Spain, Brazil, Sweden, Ecuador and Paraguay, the Organization of News Ombudsmen establishes and refines standards for the job of news ombudsman or reader representative on newspapers and in other news media; aids in the wider establishment of the position of news ombudsmen on newspapers and elsewhere in the media; provides a forum for the interchange of experiences, information and ideas among news ombudsmen; develops contacts with publishers, editors, press councils and other professional organizations, provide speakers for special interest groups and respond to media inquiries.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has played a role in virtually every significant press freedom case that has come before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as in hundreds of cases in U.S. federal and state courts. The Committee has also emerged as an international resource in free speech issues, disseminating information in a variety of forms, including a quarterly legal review, a bi-weekly newsletter, a 24-hour hotline, and various handbooks on media law issues.

Reporters Sans Frontieres English Français Español Deutsch
Which countries flout press freedom? Who are the criminal gangs and fundamentalist groups that murder reporters? What are the new faces of censorship? Reporters Sans Frontieres brings you the answers, with the latest facts and figures, maps and copies of banned newspapers. Also publishes a report on infringements of press freedom throughout the world.

World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC)
As a coordination group of more than 30 national and international news media organizations, supports freedom of the press, especially in Eastern Europe and in the Third World. Encourages news media everywhere to adopt high professional standards and performance. WPFC also administers the Fund Against Censorship, which investigates and protests governmental attempts to censor the press and assists with legal challenges to press censorship.

Issues of Democracy
USIA Electronic Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, February 1997