Religious Freedom Watch - Defending Religious Rights

What happens when a newspaper fails to serve the community? After Freedom Magazine published an in-depth report on the St. Petersburg Times last summer, a number of journalists formerly associated with the St. Petersburg Times came forward. They related incidents at the Times which revealed serious violations of journalism ethics.

When it was suggested to the Times that an internal investigation was in order, the paper’s attorneys declared the idea to be "preposterous". The Times leadership apparently believes it is beyond the bounds of inspection - even from within its own ranks.

With Pew Research Center surveys showing that only 29 percent of Americans think news organizations get the facts straight, and with the St. Petersburg Times’ refusal to consider even some internal soul-searching, we have a true crisis.

Read the full story in the latest Freedom Magazine special report - available for immediate download in PDF format here. (11.3 MB, requires Adobe Acrobat 8 or better)

Why Religious Freedom is a Fundamental Freedom and Universal Human Right:

Religious freedom is pivotal to a free society. Thomas Jefferson and America’s founders called it the “first freedom.” It is enshrined in the first clause of the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. And it is first in another sense: freedom of thought, conscience and religion is the prerequisite for the exercise of all other basic human rights. In theory and practice, free expression, freedom of press and freedom of association depend on the prior guarantee of a free conscience. The historical reality is that where religious freedom is denied, so too are other basic human rights.

Continued at the Hudson Institute, Center for Religious Freedom