Press Freedom
National Press Club urges Obama administration to press Jordan on censorship
June 7, 2013
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. In…
Read MoreNPC joins other groups in pushing for more openness in Wikileaks Trial
June 5, 2013
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. The amicus brief was filed by the…
Read MoreIn the wake of seizure of reporters’ communications records, First Amendment expert to visit Club June 11
June 3, 2013
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…
Read MoreNational Press Club to Host First Amendment Attorney Floyd Abrams
May 28, 2013
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…
Read MoreNPC Welcomes Review of Leak Probes but Still Worries About Judicial Overreach
May 24, 2013
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…
Read MoreClub Stands With Dozens of News Groups Protesting Associated Press Investigation
May 15, 2013
The National Press Club joined more than four dozen media organizations to call for the Justice Department to return phone records of Associated Press reporters obtained in what was described as "an overreaching dragnet for news gathering materials." The Club joined the Reporters Committee for…
Read MoreNPC Lends its Voice to Coalition Decrying Sentencing of Ethiopian Blogger
May 3, 2013
The National Press Club joined with other human rights and journalism organizations in criticizing an Ethiopian court decision upholding an 18-year jail sentence for a blogger in that country. The groups say the man, Eskinder Nega, has been unfairly convicted on specious terrorism charges. The…
Read MoreNational Press Club Announces Press Freedom Award Winners for 2013
May 3, 2013
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the National Press Club announced the winners of its 2013 John Aubuchon Press Freedom Awards: Zeynep Kuray, a woman reporter from Turkey, which jails more journalists than any other nation; and, in the United States, "The Whistleblower." Each year, the…
Read MoreNational Press Club marks 20th year of World Press Freedom Day, May 3
May 3, 2013
The National Press Club commemorated the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day today with a sober reminder of how unfree the press is in most of the world and a pledge to keep working to change that. Created in 1993 by the United Nations General Assembly, World Press Freedom Day is celebrated…
Read MorePanel to explore 'The New International Media: Filling a Vacuum or Pushing Agenda?'
April 25, 2013
The National Press Club will host a panel discussion May 2 to take a close look at the growing clout of several new media organizations that are at least partly government owned. The discussion is sponsored by the Club's Press Freedom Committee and it will occur on the eve of World Press Freedom…
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