Black Lives Matter as a statement of fact
Two messages have been added at the top of the homepage of the National Press Club website.
The first is: Black Lives Matter.
The second is: Reporters are witnesses. To silence the press is to silence the people, silence accountability and silence truth.
Both were posted at the request of Club President Michael Freedman, who has made as a hallmark of his tenure constant reminders to newsmakers, government and corporate leaders, and the general public why journalism matters.
For its entire history, the Club has avoided being advocates for any cause, except press freedom. Freedman said these postings do not change that.
As crisis coverage of the coronavirus pandemic was overtaken by coverage of nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, the Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute spoke out forcefully in defense of press freedom as reporters were attacked by police and arrested in several cities — for doing their jobs.
Today, as journalists in the field are assuming double-crisis-duty and many Americans are re-examining our history and values, the Club is also reflecting and responding.
“The statement Black Lives Matter does not commit us to anything beyond those words and their meaning,” Freedman said. “That said, it does commit us, and appropriately so, to gain a better understanding of racial inequality and social injustice that is woven into the fabric of our nation's history. And then to be a force for positive change within our operations at the National Press Club and in newsrooms across the country.”
Freedman has managed CBS Radio Network and the broadcast division of United Press International, as well as newsrooms in Detroit.
“What is happening now is — and should be -- affecting all of us very deeply,” he said.