O’Reilly touts Club’s primary position in advancing press freedom

The National Press Club’s leading role in advancing press freedom has become a signature of Club President Eileen O’Reilly’s tenure as she nears the halfway point of her year in office.

The Club is becoming increasingly known for its efforts to ensure that journalists around the world can do their work without being jailed or intimidated, O’Reilly said at the Club’s General Membership Meeting on Friday, May 12.

She recently attended a press freedom event in New York where “the Club was touted by many to me for its role in press freedom,” she told a GMM audience of 51 Club members. “I also went to a Washington Post press freedom event where the Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, Paul Beckett, told the audience that while many people have been helping them with Evan Gershkovich’s case, he singled out the National Press Club as the entity who was their first main supporter and who, he said, was incredibly helpful at advising them with concrete steps and connections.”

The Club recently honored Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter being wrongfully detained in Russia, with its John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award. The Club also has been advocating for the release of Austin Tice, a reporter who has been held in Syria for more than 10 years.

The Club also has highlighted threats to press freedom in India and made statements on many other concerns about press freedom around the world and in the United States. As a symbol of its emphasis on the issue, the Club expanded World Press Freedom Day, which was observed on May 3, into an entire week of programming along with the National Press Club Journalism Institute.

“Journalism is not a crime — it is an essential pillar of our democracy — and we must continue pushing that message,” O’Reilly said.

A few Club members — led by Skip Kaltenheuser — asked that the Club consider speaking out on the case of Julian Assange, an Australian who founded Wikileaks and has been confined since April 2019 in Belmarsh Prison in London. Assange was not working for a journalism organization in 2010 when he published many top-secret government documents.

O’Reilly said the Club has been concentrating on advocating for press freedom for many journalists and has not taken a stance on Assange. She said the Press Freedom Council she created this year would consider the case but prioritizes journalists who need the Club’s help.

During the debate on Assange, some GMM members questioned whether Assange is a journalist and also raised concerns about his potential criminal misconduct. Kaltenheuser insisted he is a journalist. 

Club Executive Director Bill McCarren said the Club is “judicious” in selecting its press freedom initiatives.

“We’re not taking a position with respect to this case,” McCarren said. “We believe there are people who can support this, just as there are plenty of people that can support many, many, many violations of human rights that exist in the world. We’ll continue to speak out on issues of press freedom.”

Francesco takes NPCJI helm

Beth Francesco, the new executive director of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, made her first appearance at a GMM since being appointed to the position last month.

“I am fiercely committed to local news and providing meaningful support to journalists at all stages of their careers,” said Francesco, who began her career as a copy editor and page designer for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She joined the NPCJI as a director of operations in August 2019 and slowly expanded her responsibilities, becoming the interim executive director in October 2022.

Her plans for her first year in office include expanding the NPCJI staff, re-envisioning the Club library space and securing new funding and partnerships to support NPCJI initiatives.

“We’ll add signature programming over time — writing workshops, [the] fellowship program, and internship opportunities, for example — that bring participants to the National Press Club and supplement our virtual programming,” Francesco said. “Our aim is to celebrate and amplify best practices and innovative work being done in newsrooms around the country … [to] support journalists at all stages of their careers.”

Membership, finance updates

The Club has 2,489 members, a 7% decrease from the 2,664 members in 2022. The Journalist category has declined 4% — falling from 1,376 to 1,317 members. The Communicator category has declined 6% — falling from 1,097 to 1,031.

The number of applications for Club membership has increased. The Club received a total of 552 applications in 2022. This year, it has received 237 applications, an 18% increase from the 200 applications received in May 2022.

The had its best financial March ever this year, bringing in nearly $1.4 million in revenue. The growth has occurred across all business categories but mostly in food and beverage, room rental and media services. The Club is on track to meet its budgeted profit goal, which would give it two profitable years in a row coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.