The National Press Club

Freedom of the Press

1. Club Stands With Dozens of News Groups Protesting Associated Press Investigation

   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."

2. National Press Club Announces Press Freedom Award Winners for 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 NPC confers its Aubuchon award on people whose work and lives have advanced the cause of press freedom and transparency. The annual award goes to one domestic recipient and one international one.

3. NPC Lends its Voice to Coalition Decrying Sentencing of Ethiopian Blogger

   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 National Press Club spoke out last year about Nega’s case. "We are deeply disappointed that Nega has been sent to prison, when his only 'offense' appears to have been writing critically about the government," said NPC President Angela Greiling Keane, a Bloomberg News reporter.

4. National Press Club marks 20th year of World Press Freedom Day, May 3

   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 on May 3 each year and has three goals. The first is to evaluate the state of press freedom. The second is to defend the press from attacks on its independence. And the third is to honor those who have sacrificed, sometimes with their lives, to bring the public the news.

5. Panel to explore 'The New International Media: Filling a Vacuum or Pushing Agenda?'

   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 Day, a commemoration created in 1993 by the U.N. General Assembly to take stock of press freedom and strive to ensure media independence.

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