Journalists Maria Ressa, CEO of Philippine digital media outlet Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov, founder and head of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their investigative journalism and ongoing battles to protect freedom of expression and the press in their home countries, the Philippines and Russia, respectively.
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.
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.
Denying press access is a violation of your First Amendment right to a free press. Without press access, we all lose. As part of our Support Real News campaign, the News Media Alliance is proud to provide two ads for use in your print and online publications.
