It is a symbol of its soft power and protected by the First Amendment, but press freedom in the US has been compromised. Often extolled as "sacred and inviolable", the US advocacy of press freedom has proven hypocritical.

The People's Daily on Tuesday quoted a report published by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which concludes that the recent information leakage probe conducted by the US government and its surveillance agencies on some journalists have posed a real threat to the concept of press freedom.

Gary Pruitt, CEO of Associated Press, recently filed a protest against the US government's clandestine acquisition of phone communication records of more than 100 AP journalists.