The National Press Club

Technological changes, viewer tastes and demands for profit have undercut the quality of television news, but the pendulum should begin to swing back, legendary ABC News anchor Ted Koppel told host Marvin Kalb at “The Kalb Report” on Nov. 19.

“When Americans finally realize how bad things are and what political straits our system is in, they will turn back to good journalism,” Koppel predicted at the National Press Club forum.

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The scandals that have embroiled retired Army General David Petraeus and General John Allen have left the upper echelons of the U.S. military feeling "introspective," Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert told a luncheon at the National Press Club Nov. 16.

Greenert explained that the feeling applied particularly to the Navy, which saw more than 20 commanding officers expelled from the service this year, the majority of whom were found to have conducted themselves inappropriately.

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Rock legends Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, lead singer and guitarist, respectively, of the iconic British band The Who, announced the launch of their charity Teen Cancer America at a National Press Club luncheon on Nov. 12.

Daltrey gave the keynote remarks and The Who front man was by turns jovial and somber in an eloquent appeal for a more concentrated effort to fight teen cancer in the United States.

“What we’re trying to do here is make you aware of the situation,” Daltrey told a sold-out crowd of NPC members and their guests.

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Even though the party was non-partisan, as the election returns poured in there still was much whooping, yelling, cheering and groaning among the more than 300 attendees at the National Press Club's first-ever Election Night Watch in the Club Ballroom on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

The energetic and diverse crowd of members and non-members from the D.C. area carried on throughout the evening as it watched the results broadcast live from several news networks. Guests also were able to follow their preferred news coverage on each of three large television screens.

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Speaking at a National Press Club luncheon Nov. 2, a day after his predecessor was charged with being part of a "conspiracy of silence" in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case, Pennsylvania State University President Rodney Erickson vowed to implement 119 reform recommendations by the end of next year to insure that nothing like that scandal can happen again.

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Our Bodies Ourselves, a women’s health organization named for the book, “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” announced an initiative to place a copy of the 40th anniversary edition of the book in every congressional office at a Newsmaker event Oct. 22.

The original book, a seminal study of women’s health and sexual issues that was published in 1971, is one of 88 books included in the 2012 Library of Congress exhibit, “Books that Shaped America.” According to Amazon, more than four million copies of previous editions have been sold.

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As technology matures, privacy issues are being subjected to legal tests that could force a Supreme Court Fourth Amendment review, according to Virginia attorneys Christopher Leibig and Steve Shannon who addressed their concerns during a National Press Club Newsmaker event Thursday.

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Did Ike like the media? Or did he consider them a necessary nuisance? Did he use their reach and credibility to telegraph messages to other world leaders?

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“We have an uphill battle, but I am optimistic that we will have a strong showing” in the coming election, Virgil Goode, the Constitution Party’s nominee for president, told reporters at a National Press Club Newsmaker on Oct. 12.

Whereas Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have based their plans for job growth largely around a combination of tax cuts and stimulus, Goode puts immigration front-and-center in his jobs plan. “Jobs in America, when you’ve got high unemployment, should go first to U.S. citizens,” said Goode.

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Book & Authors, October 10, 2012

"No Lost Causes" by former President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe Velez.

It was a standing room only crowd that gathered Oct. 10 to hear former President of Colombia Alvaro Uribe Velez tell the riveting story of Colombia’s dramatic turnaround during his years in office, 2002-2010.

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