; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. . (5) A free and independent press has long been recognized as an important aspect of the United States’ national security and actions taken by foreign governments or organizations that weaken free press protections are a national security threat to the United States. (6) International press freedom is under renewed and, in some cases, increasing assault, with rhetoric delegitimizing and discrediting the media or journalists, online harassment, physical attacks, gender-based violence, legal campaigns, censorship, and surveillance, all of which threaten the ability of journalists to do their jobs safely, freely, and without fear of reprisal. (7) In the past decade, the world has seen a significant deterioration of press freedoms. (8) According to Freedom House’s Freedom in the World and Freedom on the Net reports— (A) the number of countries and territories scoring a zero for media freedom has ballooned from 14 countries to 33 countries since 2005; (B) people in 53 countries faced arrest or imprisonment for expressing themselves online, including online journalists targeted for their reporting; (C) 40 countries blocked websites featuring political, social, or religious content, including many news outlets; and (D) journalists, bloggers, human rights activists, and other people experienced physical violence in retaliation for expressing themselves online in 40 countries. (9) According to Reporters Without Borders’ 2022 World Press Freedom Index— (A) approximately 74 percent of the countries of the world are classified as problematic situation or worse with respect to journalistic freedom, with a record number of 28 countries receiving a very bad rating for press freedom situations; (B) approximately 26 percent of the countries of the world have satisfactory or good press freedom environments