Club members elect Michael Freedman as 113th NPC president

National Press Club members elected Club officers and members of the board in voting that concluded Friday, Dec. 6. Back row (l-r): Mark Schoeff Jr. (board), Eileen Drage O'Reilly (membership secretary), Kimberly Adams (treasurer), Lisa Nicole Matthews (vice president), Herb Jackson (board), Gillian Rich (board). Front row (l-r): Menachem Wecker (board), Michael Freedman (president), Emily Wilkins (secretary). 

 

Members of the National Press Club elected Michael Freedman, journalist-in-residence at University of Maryland Global Campus and executive producer of The Kalb Report, to serve as their 113th president.

Freedman, who has worked for 35 years as broadcast journalist, network executive and teacher, will take office in January 2020. Freedman succeeds Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak, investigations editor for the Associated Press. The Club will hold an inaugural gala on Jan. 18.

Past President Jonathan Salant announced the election results Friday, Dec. 6 at the Reliable Source after one week of online voting and an evening of in-person voting. 

Other officers elected Friday are Vice President Lisa Nicole Matthews of the Associated Press, Treasurer Kimberly Adams of Marketplace, Secretary Emily Wilkins of Bloomberg Government, and  Membership Secretary Eileen Drage O’Reilly.

New members of the Board of Governors elected Friday are Herb Jackson of CQ Roll Call, Mark Schoeff Jr. of InvestmentNews, Gillian Rich of Investor’s Business Daily, freelance journalist Menachem Wecker and Lindsay Law Murphy of  American Forest & Paper Association.

In his acceptance speech, Freedman acknowledged the challenges facing the journalism profession, and pledged to continue the Club's work to protect press freedom in the U.S. and around the world.

“ At the National Press Club, we protect press freedom, we protect reporters around the world, and today, we must also protect the reputation of journalism,” Freedman said.

Recalling Edward R. Murrow's 1958 "wires and lights in a box" address to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, in which Murrow urged his fellow broadcasters to use the new media to inspire and illuminate, Freedman implored his colleagues to remain steadfast in their pursuit of the truth.

"Today we live in a digital world... one in which we have more information at our fingertips than perhaps even Ed Murrow could have imagined," Freedman said. "At the same time, readers, listeners and views on all platforms are asking: 'Who do you trust?' The National Press Club is an indispensable platform to educate, inspire empower and protect. I ask that we join together to use it to those ends."

Freedman has served as general manager of CBS Radio Network, vice president and managing editor for the Broadcast Division of United Press International and a vice president and professor of journalism at The George Washington University.  

For the past 25 years, he has also worked as executive producer of the multi-award winning public broadcasting series, “The Kalb Report” with Marvin Kalb. Freedman and his teams have won more than 85 honors including 14 Edward R. Murrow Awards. He is co-author of "The Broadcast Voice Handbook," a contributing writer for "Broadcasting Through Crisis," "The Encyclopedia of Journalism," and "Responsible Journalism," and a contributor to "Cronkite" by Douglas Brinkley. A Detroit native, Freedman is a graduate of Wayne State University.