As journalists prepare to cover the Presidential Inauguration and the anticipated rallies and protests across the country, many may be concerned about facing similar attacks to those experienced by reporters covering the violence at the Capitol earlier this month. Making preparations and being aware of the resources available can help provide reassurance.
As we head into what is going to be a truly historic election, we must remember the importance of the freedoms granted by the First Amendment and the value of the free press. For many years – but especially in the last four years – journalists in the United States have been literally under attack for doing their jobs.
We strongly support Australia’s Right to Know media freedom campaign, set to launch on October 20, which calls for ending the criminalization of journalists working to report the truth and to hold accountable the Australian government and those in positions of power.
On September 23, free-press advocates from the National Press Club Journalism Institute and Reporters Without Borders, along with more than 100 volunteers (including myself), canvassed Capitol Hill to ask legislators to support efforts to free American journalist Austin Tice, who has been held captive in Syria since 2012.
As we celebrate National Newspaper Week, we are raising awareness about our five First Amendment freedoms, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution — freedom of the press, speech, religion, petition and assembly — and the ways the news media help promote and protect those freedoms. Those five freedoms seem so basic, and we sometimes may take them for granted, but there are surprisingly few channels that allow us to exercise all five freely.
June 28 will always be a hard day for any journalist – that was the day, exactly one year ago, that five newsroom staffers were lost to the hands of a gunman who shot his way into The Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, barring a grudge against the local paper. While the gunman was later arrested and will soon stand trial, The Capital Gazette is only one of many newsrooms that have faced losses in the past year.
One year ago, on June 28, 2018, the lives of five newsroom employees from The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, were senselessly taken by gun violence. Today, we honor those victims — and the three dozen other journalists lost around the world in the last year — by celebrating Maryland Freedom of the Press Day.
With the release of our newest ad last week, we — along with our Support Real News partners — are responding to recent attacks on the media, highlighting the importance of press access for the preservation of our democracy. In the ad, we called on the public to support press access, noting that the ability of reporters to accurately inform the public depends on their ability to ask questions of those in power.
Journalists report the facts, giving their readers and viewers the details they need to make informed decisions about their lives and the world around them. While they are usually background players, in recent weeks they have taken center stage, not as the storytellers, but as the story. During last night’s Super Bowl LIII, The Washington Post highlighted this point in an ad about the value of journalists to our democracy.
While student journalists may not be facing the exact same threats as their adult counterparts, there are serious threats to the student press, and the current anti-press environment has only made things worse. But luckily for students across America, the Student Press Law Center is ready to assist young journalists no matter their legal or ethical predicament.
