Club and Journalism Institute leaders call for investigation of interference with First Amendment rights

"Journalists' ability to do their jobs and operate unimpeded by threats and violence is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Any attempt to interfere with that right should be investigated and wrongdoers prosecuted."

 -- National Press Club President Michael Freedman
and National Press Club Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane

 

Leaders of the National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute are calling for criminal investigations into those responsible for violence and threats against journalists during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump.

National Press Club President Michael Freedman and National Press Club Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane said in a Jan. 11 statement:

"Journalists are witnesses and rarely in the history of our country has the work of reporters been more important than on January 6, 2021, in documenting the deadly insurrection that nearly toppled our government. They are important chroniclers of democracy. Press freedom is a key tenet of American democracy and democracies worldwide. Journalists' ability to do their jobs and operate unimpeded by threats and violence is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Any attempt to interfere with that right should be investigated and wrongdoers prosecuted.”

Numerous reporters in the Capitol and on its grounds that day were verbally threatened, physically attacked or had their equipment damaged.

All reporters covering the certification of the presidential election in the chambers of Congress in the Capitol that day had to either hide or flee for their safety. “Murder the Media” was scrawled on a door in the Capitol.

Other journalists were reportedly wrongly detained in Washington, D.C., during arrests that day.

Five people died as a direct result of the violence, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer who was attacked.

“Last week’s insurrection was a direct result of a dangerous misinformation campaign spread by President Trump, members of his administration, and several of his most fervent supporters in Congress,” Freedman and Keane said. “The attacks on the press covering the scene last Wednesday were driven by President Trump’s repeated rejection of truth and his demonization of the purveyors of it.”