Press Uncuffed
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Press Uncuffed, founded in 2015 by the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''s
Dana Priest Dana Louise Priest is an American journalist, writer and teacher. She has worked for nearly 30 years for the ''Washington Post'' and became the third John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland's ...
and several of her students at the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
in collaboration with the
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
, is a campaign to help free imprisoned journalists throughout the world. The nonprofit organization centers fundraising around selling bracelets bearing the names of imprisoned journalists. Eight of the journalists profiled were released, including the ''Washington Post'' journalist
Jason Rezaian Jason Rezaian (; born on March 16, 1976) is an Iranian-American journalist who served as Tehran news bureau, bureau chief for ''The Washington Post''. He was convicted of espionage in a closed-door trial in Iran in 2015. On July 22, 2014, Irania ...
. Priest and the students used
Indiegogo Indiegogo is an American crowdfunding website founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The site is one of the first sites to offer crowd funding. Indiegogo allows peo ...
to fund the original bracelets. They surpassed their flexible goal of $30,000 by almost $1,500 within the time limit of the campaign. The organization's mission statement is: "Our mission is to advocate for and support imprisoned journalists overseas. If a journalist somewhere still wears a cuff, so will we." The campaign was launched at the
Newseum The Newseum (April 18, 1997–March 3, 2002 and April 11, 2008–December 31, 2019) was an American museum located first in Rosslyn, Virginia, and later at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, in Washington, D.C., dedicated to news and journalism that ...
in 2015.


Dana Priest

A two-time
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
winning ''Washington Post'' investigative reporter, Dana Priest covers
national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...
and
press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...
worldwide. At the university, Priest teaches two courses: National Security and Press Freedom Reporting, and The Impact of 9/11 on Journalism and Civic Life. The former is the course with which she began Press Uncuffed. At the beginning of the semester, each student was assigned to an imprisoned journalist somewhere in the world. Throughout the semester, the student investigated, researched and reported on the journalist. Many students were able to call, video chat, and send messages to their journalists. By the end of the semester, students completed a long-form article to be published in either Capital News Service or the ''Washington Post'', where Priest works. One story published in the ''Post'' covered Zainab Khawaja in
Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
. A story about
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
's famous television show host
Hamid Mir Hamid Mir (born 23 July 1966) is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and writer. Mir initially worked as a journalist with Pakistani newspapers. He has hosted the political talk show '' Capital Talk'' on Geo News intermittently since 2002. He writ ...
was also published in the ''Post''.


Bracelets

Clear bracelets depicting the names of imprisoned journalists along with the countries in which they are imprisoned are the main source of funding for Press Uncuffed. The organization sells them through their website and through
Investigative Reporters and Editors Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences a ...
, a non-profit organization that works to improve investigative journalism worldwide.


Social Media and Coverage

The organization is active on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. The organization put together a video the first year detailing their work and goals. At the University of Maryland, the organization has received extensive coverage. The Writers' Bloc, a student publication, covered the organization's mission. The university's student newspaper, ''
The Diamondback ''The Diamondback'' is an independent student newspaper associated with the University of Maryland, College Park. It began in 1910 as ''The Triangle'' and became known as ''The Diamondback'' in 1921. ''The Diamondback'' was initially published a ...
'', covered the nonprofit's win of the Do Good Challenge. Other universities have also covered the nonprofit's work, including the University of Arizona, where Priest won an award for her press freedom efforts in 2016. Priest has expressed an interest in working with the university to further their press freedom goals.


Awards

The campaign is the winner of multiple awards, including the SABRE Award for nonprofit organizations and the Do Good Challenge, which they won alongside Student's Helping Honduras.


References

{{reflist, 2


External links


Press Uncuffed official site
2015 establishments in Maryland Freedom of the press in the United States American journalism organizations Freedom of expression organizations Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States