Club springing back to in-person life
Although the coronavirus pandemic continued to slow National Press Club in-person activities early this year, the Club has started to spring back to a pre-pandemic kind of life in the last three months.
Business activity and revenue increased sharply in March, April and May, while the ballroom has been filled by Club President Jen Judson’s recent inaugural gala. Newsmaker press conferences, such as one featuring former Attorney General Eric Holder, have been held in a hybrid in-person and online format.
The ramp-up in in-person activity also includes solid attendance at Taco Nights each Friday, an expansion of Reliable Source dinner service to two nights a week -- Thursday and Friday -- and a steady stream of Club room rentals for various conferences, dinners and receptions.
“When you’re at the Club, it looks like the good old days,” Judson said at the General Membership Meeting on May 20. “The Club is shining during the day and at night.”
The membership gathering was held in-person for the first time since January 2020, just before the COVID-19 outbreak. It drew about two dozen Club members, who gathered in the Fourth Estate restaurant, and also was livestreamed.
After coping through two COVID years that brought heavy financial losses and increased debt, the Club is beginning to come back on the business side. The Club recorded profits in March and April, as event revenue exceeded expenses. Advance fall bookings also look promising. In addition, the Club recently sold a piece of art that generated substantial revenue.
Challenges remain, such as inflation, the stock market plummet that affects the Club’s investments and staff disruptions due to retirements and other departures. The Club expects to lose money again this year but at a lower level than originally budgeted. It also anticipates reducing its debt and increasing its financial reserves by the end of the year.
“We are on our way to financial recovery,” said Judson, the land warfare reporter for Defense News.
The Club has survived the pandemic in part because it stressed protection during the outbreak, Judson said. It has maintained a vaccine mandate, for instance, even as wearing a mask has become optional.
“Our members seem to want the safety,” Judson said. “We’re winning, but we still need our helmets and our armor.”
Similar to its business side, Club membership has been knocked back but not knocked down during COVID. The Club had a total of 2,664 members as of April 30, down from 2,884 a year ago.
But the membership level has been on the upswing this year, with increases each month since January. Growth has been especially strong in the young member category, Club Membership Secretary Gillian Rich reported at the membership meeting.
Press Freedom Tension
Judson said she’s most proud of the work the Club has done to promote press freedom during her first few months in office. Highlights include the Club’s ongoing advocacy to free Austin Tice, a journalist who has been detained since 2012 in Syria, as well as a two-hour panel the Club hosted on World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
But the Club’s press freedom efforts also generated tension at the membership meeting. Mounzer Sleiman, Washington bureau chief for Almayadeen, expressed disappointment that the Club had not as of the meeting time displayed a photo in the lobby of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.
“It seems to me that there is a delay in honoring this American Palestinian journalist,” Sleiman said during the membership meeting Q&A. “I can imagine if it was different journalist from different background, I think the Press Club would act more quickly than I’ve heard so far.”
The Club released a statement about Abu Akleh on the day she died, May 11, and held a moment of silence for her the next day. She was gunned down while covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.
“I’m going to disagree and say we that we acted as quickly as we possibly could on that,” Judson said in response to Sleiman.
Club Executive Director Bill McCarren said Abu Akleh’s photo would be posted on video screens in the lobby soon and that the Club would continue to monitor the case.
“You should be proud of what your Club is doing,” McCarren said.
Al Jazeera Washington bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara praised the Club for its press freedom efforts during the event honoring Abu Akleh.
Determining who is to blame for Abu Akleh’s death is a source of tension not only in the Middle East but also at the Club.
“This is a very complicated issue,” Menachem Wecker said at the membership meeting. “I wouldn’t want the tone to suggest there is agreement amongst our membership or even more broadly.”
The next General Membership Meeting will occur in October.