Andrea Snyder Edney elected 111th National Press Club president

Andrea Snyder Edney, an editor at Bloomberg News, was elected the 111th president of the National Press Club on Dec. 8, promising that the Club would help “strengthen our journalism community” to respond to an “unprecedented time” in the profession.

Edney, who ran unopposed for the office, won one of several Club officer and board positions that were decided in the Club election, which ran from Nov. 27 through Dec. 8. The races drew a total of 246 online and 36 in-person votes for positions open to journalist members and 180 online and 10 in-person votes for a communicator position.

“This is, I think, an unprecedented time in journalism,” Edney said in brief remarks to an audience gathered in the Reliable Source to hear the election results. “It’s certainly a different world than it was when I first became a reporter 25 years ago. Everything we can do to strengthen our journalism community, that’s what we want to focus on this year.”

She cited training for investigative journalism and “conversations about objectivity and fairness” as ways to address the challenges facing reporters.

Edney takes office as President Donald J. Trump denounces the media on almost a daily basis, deeming coverage he doesn’t like “fake news.”

“We have a real job to do, and this is an important time for it,” she told the election-night gathering.

Edney, 43, will assume the Club gavel at a general membership meeting in January.

In other Club races, Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak was elected vice president, Michael Freedman treasurer, Ferdous Al-Faruque secretary and Michele Salcedo membership secretary.

Jen Judson and Peter Urban were elected to journalist seats on the Club board of governors for three-year terms. Kimberly Adams was elected as a journalist governor for a two-year unexpired term.

In the evening’s only contested races, Erik Meltzer and Molly McCluskey were elected to journalist board seats for a one-year unexpired term. They defeated two other candidates, Nikki Schwab and Celia Wexler, competing for the same slots.

Andy Fisher, a communicator Club member, won a three-year board term.

Presiding over the Club will not be the only – or even biggest – change in Edney’s life over the next year. She and her husband Michael welcomed Cecilia Jane to the family on Nov. 26.

“It’s back-to-back history,” incumbent Club President Jeff Ballou, the organization’s first African-American male leader, said at the Reliable Source on election night. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a new mom” as president.

Edney, a breaking news editor at Bloomberg, began her career with the organization as a reporter in Prague in 1997. She has served as the Club’s vice president, secretary and treasurer as well as chair of the Scholarship Committee.