The National Press Club

Freedom of the Press

1. National Press Club urges Obama administration to press Jordan on censorship

   The National Press Club joins other national and international news organizations in calling on the government of Jordan to reverse its decision to block more than 200 news websites and to revoke the law upon which it was based, which requires the licensing of journalists in the country.

2. NPC joins other groups in pushing for more openness in Wikileaks Trial

   The National Press Club this week signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief urging that the press be given prompt access to documents filed in the court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, who provided a large number of U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks in 2010.

3. In the wake of seizure of reporters’ communications records, First Amendment expert to visit Club June 11

   The Justice Department has been monitoring reporters’ communications as it seeks to prosecute leaks of classified information. Journalists have cried foul, and they worry about a chilling effect on potential sources. Questions about the balance between national security and press freedom have rarely been more pressing.

4. National Press Club to Host First Amendment Attorney Floyd Abrams

   As U.S. prosecutors increasingly monitor reporters to get to the bottom of leaks, the National Press Club's Press Freedom Committee will host leading First Amendment attorney and press-freedom advocate Floyd Abrams, who will discuss these issues and his new book. Abrams, a senior partner in Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, has been at the forefront of nearly every major press-freedom and free-speech case in the last 40 years—from the Pentagon papers in 1971 to the Citizens United case in 2010.

5. NPC Welcomes Review of Leak Probes but Still Worries About Judicial Overreach

   The National Press Club on Friday welcomed President Obama's directive that the Justice Department reexamine its policies for investigating leaks to the press. But the Club's president, Angela Greiling Keane, said journalists are worried about what appears to be a pattern of judicial overreach by the Obama administration. "We are greatly concerned that the Justice Department's actions in these cases will have a chilling effect on would-be whistleblowers," Greiling Keane said.

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