; Whereas the theme for World Press Freedom Day 2023 is Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of Expression as a Driver for All Other Human Rights , which signifies the essential role of press freedom, independent, pluralistic, and diverse media, and freedom of expression in enabling the enjoyment and protection of all other human rights, and which will highlight the essential role of the media and journalists in verifying and disseminating facts, giving voice to the voiceless, creating spaces for ideas to be debated, and rendering complex matters intelligible for the public at large; Whereas Thomas Jefferson, who recognized the importance of the press in a constitutional republic, wrote in 1786, Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. ; Whereas the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act of 2009 ( Public Law 111–166 ; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note), signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, expanded the examination of the freedom of the press around the world in the Department of State’s annual country reports on human rights practices; Whereas Freedom House’s publication Freedom in the World 2023 noted that global freedom has declined for 17 consecutive years, and over the past year, media freedom came under pressure in at least 157 countries and territories assessed in the report; Whereas Freedom House data show that freedom of expression, for the media and individuals, has declined more than any other civil liberty over the last 17 years, and infringement on free expression is one of the biggest drivers of democratic backsliding globally