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National Press Club Backs Supreme Court Brief Seeking Broader FOIA Disclosure
The National Press Club has joined an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to encourage broad government disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. The brief was filed Sept. 7 by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and media organizations in support of the release of U.S. Navy records about weapons being stored on an island in the Puget Sound. The case, Glen Scott Milner v. United States Department of the Navy, pertains to whether the government can withhold a "wide range" of documents under a FOIA exemption intended to cover trivial internal personnel rules…
Type: News
National Press Club Board Selects Press-Freedom Honorees
The National Press Club Board of Governors voted on Aug. 23 to honor a University of Missouri journalism professor and an Iranian blogger with its 2010 John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award. The award, given each year to one domestic and one international recipient, honors people who have contributed to the cause of press freedom and open government. This year’s U.S. winner is Charles N. Davis, an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism who has done more than most to force light onto parts of national, state and local governments that many in power would like to keep…
Type: News
The National Press Club condemns the terrorist attack on Peshawar's Press Club
A suicide bomber on Tuesday detonated explosives at the gates of the Club, killing a guard, the Club's accountant and a bystander and wounding at least 20 others. The Club in this northwest Paskistan city had received a series of threats in the month leading up to the suicide attack. "The targeting of journalists who strive merely to report the truth to the public is unacceptable," National Press Club President Donna Leinwand says. "We grieve along with Pakistani journalists for the lives lost. We know that our colleagues in Pakistan will continue to uphold the best principles of our…
Type: News
NPC Urges Venezuela to End Restrictions on Free Press
The National Press Club is distressed by the Venezuelan government's recent actions to intimidate and bully the country's media. The government of Venezuela has taken a series of steps since July 31 that threaten to destroy press freedom. On July 31, the government revoked licenses for more than 30 private radio stations and a Venezuelan minister has said more than 200 other stations are under investigation. Venezuela's attorney general recently proposed a "Special Law Against Media Crimes" that would punish journalists who present a "false perception" or "cause a panic". Venezuela's…
Type: News
National Press Club decries embedding censorship
The U.S. military’s decision to bar embedded reporters in Afghanistan from publishing photographs of U.S. military personnel injured or killed in action hampers journalists' ability to independently report the war and the public's right to know. "The U.S. military should not determine what is and is not news," National Press Club President Donna Leinwand said. "Censoring journalists who cover war and permitting only government-approved news and photographs undermines our country's fundamental commitment to a free and independent press." The policy applies to Regional Command East, which…
Type: News
NPC Statement on the Return of American Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee
The National Press Club applauds the release and pardon of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who arrived in California on Wednesday. The journalists had been held by North Korea since March 17 for allegedly perpetrating "hostile acts" for entering the country while reporting on North Korean refugees living in China. The journalists, of San Francisco-based Current TV, had been sentenced to 12 years working in North Korean labor camps but were pardoned by North Korean president Kim Jong Il during negotiations with former President Bill Clinton Tuesday. "We condemn the government of…
Type: News
National Press Club Celebrates Dismissal of Charges Against AP Photographer
The National Press Club joined other journalism organizations Wednesday in celebrating the dismissal of terrorism-related allegations against an Associated Press photographer. A judicial committee in Baghdad ordered the release of Bilal Hussein nearly two years after he was detained by the U.S. military. "This is a long-overdue decision," said Sylvia Smith, president of the National Press Club. "The next step is to free him." "Bilal is not a member of the National Press Club, but he is a brother journalist," Smith said. "When the freedoms of any journalist are curtailed, all of us are…
Type: News
NPC Lauds Passage of OPEN Government Act
National President Press Club President Jerry Zremski today joined leaders of other journalistic organizations in lauding congressional approval of bipartisan reform of the Freedom of Information Act. "We are pleased to join our colleagues in other news outlets and organizations in expressing our happiness over passage of the OPEN Government Act by the Senate and House," Zremski said. "We hope that the legislation quickly becomes the law of the land." Zremski said the bill marks a great step forward in ensuring people's right to know what their government is doing, particularly in this…
Type: News
NPC Hails House Approval of Shield Bill
National Press Club President Jerry Zremski today lauded the House passage of the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 (H.R. 2102). The measure, which passed on a 398 to 21 vote, was backed by more than 50 media companies and organizations, including the National Press Club. "We are thrilled that the House today passed the Free Flow of Information Act," Zremski said. "This is the most concrete step yet toward giving journalists and their sources the legal protection they need to tell important stories that the public needs to know. Without a federal shield law, journalists and their sources…
Type: News
NPC fights for open court records
The National Press Club has signed onto a letter in which journalism groups protest the American Bar Association's proposed recommendations for limiting public access to court records. "The ABA's Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions is essentially suggesting shutting off access to court records when there is no conviction in a criminal case, and that would be an outrageous limit on press freedom," said Jerry Zremski, the NPC's president. "I'm proud to join this effort to try to stop the ABA's House of Delegates from recommending these measures." The Coalition of Journalists for Open…
Type: News