First Amendment Attorney Floyd Abrams to National Press Club Members: "Remain Vigilant"

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the keynote speaker for the inauguration of the National Press Club's 111^th President, Bloomberg editor Andrea Snyder Edney, renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams urged the press to "remain vigilant in using and defending its freedom, and that of all Americans."

Abrams is best known for his successful Supreme Court defense of The New York Times from the Nixon administration's attempt to block the printing of "The Pentagon Papers." The landmark 6-3 decision had a momentous impact on the relationship between the US government and the American media, and reaffirmed the guarantees of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Speaking from the National Press Club's ballroom nearly fifty years since that Supreme Court ruling, Abrams cautioned the crowd: "These are really dangerous days – difficult days – for the country and for its press. Press protections do remain strong, stronger in the United States as a matter of law than any place else in the world. The question," said Abrams, "is whether it will remain so…whether the press will remain vigilant in using and defending its freedom and that of all Americans."

In her first official speech as President of the National Press Club, Edney answered Abrams' question with a call to action: "If we ask hard questions of our leaders, no matter their political persuasion, if we assiduously pursue fairness and objectivity, if we follow the facts wherever they lead; the freedom of the press will be strong and enduring. That is our charge, and working together, we will keep it."

Edney, a breaking news editor at Bloomberg, first joined the news organization as a reporter in Prague in 1997 and became a member of the National Press Club in 2009.  She previously served on the National Press Club's Board of Governors as Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President – and was also the longtime chair of the Scholarship Committee. 

The National Press Club
The National Press Club is the World's Leading Professional Organization for Journalists ™. Founded in 1908, the Club serves its members through activities that bolster their skills, through services that meet the changing needs of the global communications profession, and through social activities that build a vital media community in Washington and across the world. The Club is where news happens in the nation's capital and is a vigorous advocate of press freedom worldwide.

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SOURCE National Press Club