Press Freedom
National Press Club calls for summit in wake of assault on reporter
May 25, 2017
The legal system has taken the appropriate action in the latest assault on a reporter, charging candidate Greg Gianforte with assault for the congressional candidate’s extraordinary attack that landed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs in the hospital (ironically, for asking a question about health care…
Read MoreUS Government Browbeats Endangered Mexican Journalist Into Returning Home
May 25, 2017
In an unfortunate setback for press freedom that seems all too typical of the times, U.S. government foot-dragging in the case of Mexican journalist Martin Mendez Pineda has put him in grave danger. As we have already reported, Mendez sought asylum in the United States after receiving death…
Read MorePress freedom advocates decry latest restraint on journalism
May 19, 2017
Our organizations, all of which advocate for journalists in the U.S. and across the globe, believe we must sound the alarm about what happened this week to veteran Washington reporter John M. Donnelly. While covering a meeting of the Federal Communications Commission for his employer, CQ Roll Call…
Read MoreIs there a Cold War on press freedom?
May 19, 2017
A little more than two weeks ago, the National Press Club, at it often does, hosted a group of foreign journalists. Around the table in the Sarah McClendon room sat this year’s class of Vaclav Havel fellows, young journalists from countries that once belonged to the Soviet Union. Their fellowship…
Read MoreReporter manhandled by FCC guards because he asked question
May 18, 2017
Security guards at the Federal Communications Commission headquarters here manhandled a well-regarded reporter at a public hearing today and forced him to leave the premises after he had tried to politely ask questions of FCC commissioners. The reporter, John M. Donnelly of CQ Roll Call, is an…
Read MoreAs Trump greets Erdogan, National Press Club and its Journalism Institute call on Turkey to free the press
May 16, 2017
As President Donald Trump welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House Tuesday, we at the National Press Club are recalling another distinguished Turkish guest whom we hosted three weeks ago. Our luncheon guest was Erol Önderoğlu, the Turkish representative of the…
Read MoreWhy did Trump block all but Russian state media from Oval Office?
May 12, 2017
The National Press Club on May 11 criticized a Trump administration decision to exclude reporters from a White House meeting between the president and top Russian officials. Dismissing a request from the White House Correspondents Association, the White House press office refused to allow…
Read MorePress organizations pledge to strengthen journalism community in World Press Freedom Day statement
May 3, 2017
World Press Freedom Day 2017 arrives at a time when press institutions worldwide are under siege from forces that are both political and economic. Combined, these forces threaten democratic society as we know it. The same sweeping structural economic changes that have hollowed out so many newsrooms…
Read MoreOn World Press Freedom Day, media organizations call on U.S. government to free Mexican journalist
May 3, 2017
Our organizations -- the National Press Club Journalism Institute, Reporters without Borders, Border Center for Journalists and Bloggers, and the International Center for Journalists -- all working to advance press freedom in the United States and abroad, join in calling on the U.S. government to…
Read MoreProtecting the First Amendment: How U.S. press freedoms compare with other nations, Wednesday, May 3
April 26, 2017
A 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner will join reporters and editors from inside and outside the Beltway and representatives of international press freedom organizations on Wednesday, May 3, as the National Press Club and its Journalism Institute mark World Press Freedom Day. The press freedom workshop,…
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