National Press Club Hails Time Magazine for Choosing Journalists as Persons of the Year

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Dec 11, 2018, 13:39 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Press Club and its Journalism Institute today applauded Time Magazine for putting a spotlight on the threat to press freedom and for highlighting the struggle journalists face in fighting to protect this vital value.

Time singled out four journalists and a journalism organization for its 2018 Person of the Year:

Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post commentator, was brutally murdered in his country's consulate in Turkey.
The Capital Gazette lost five staff members when an armed man attacked their Annapolis, MD, newsroom.
Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the Myanmar government for their reporting that exposed military responsibility for the massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys.
Maria Ressa's web site, Rappler, defies government harassment and interference to chronicle the extrajudicial killings of thousands ordered by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

"On behalf of our 3,100 members worldwide, the National Press Club is deeply moved by the recognition Time has given journalists everywhere, especially our three John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award winners, Jamal Khashoggi, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and our neighbors at the Capital Gazette, whom we honored this year with the President's Award," said Club President Andrea Edney. "The Press Club will always stand with brave journalists who do their work in spite of danger and retaliation."

Barbara Cochran, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, said, "In addition to the journalists who graced its cover, this selection represents a recognition for truth-tellers everywhere — from Ann Arbor, where Mexican journalist Emilio Gutierrez-Soto is fighting for asylum, to Syria, where Austin Tice waits to be freed, to northwest Arkansas, where student journalists and their high school journalism adviser are fighting censorship."

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists, with more than 3,100 members worldwide. The Club supports press freedom through its nonprofit affiliate, the National Press Club Journalism Institute.

Press Contact: Lindsay Underwood, [email protected]

SOURCE National Press Club