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Homepage photo: Rachel Scott addresses the First Amendment Awards dinner. “She has earned a reputation as a fearless journalist, willing to ask the toughest questions of the world’s most powerful individuals,” the group said. (Credit: Richard Prince)
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At Media Gathering, a ‘Hell No’ to Trump Edicts
If there were ever any doubt that the news industry feels under siege by the Trump administration, a visit to the Radio Television Digital News Association Foundation’s’ First Amendment Awards dinner Thursday would have confirmed it. But if there were any question that the industry was resolved to fight back, that same event would have put that concern to rest.
Amid the calls to arms — or at least to double down on the principles of a free press and the First Amendment — Dan Shelley (pictured), president of the RTDNA Foundation and president and CEO of the 1,400-member Radio Television Digital News Association, said what too many media organizations are afraid to utter out loud in today’s climate:
“We need to invest more in diverse newsrooms.”
Shelley added, “And while I firmly believe that newsrooms should actively seek to have racial and gender diversity at every level, we need to be leaders in advocating diversity of thought and ideology among the people who populate our newsrooms.”
Shelley began by setting the tone for the evening: “Things seem as if they have never been crazier in politics and journalism. Make no mistake . . . this is escalation.
“Disinformation is our new default form of communication for too much of our government. Misinformation is the virus that spreads that disinformation, allowing it to infect masses of people. The weaponization of critical government offices against the press has almost become the rule, not the exception. Governing by granting press room access to far-right conspiracy propagandists. No. Hell no. . . .”
Underscoring the point, Charles D. Tobin, journalist-turned-First Amendment lawyer and another award recipient, told the group, “Do not let the government force you to use an official vocabulary again. Your words are your own to choose. That is your American journalist birthright. Do not let the government tell you that you can’t have a public record. Pry those suckers open. And do not let the government throw you out of rooms where you’re entitled to be. Write about it.
“Blog about it, and, if you’re so inclined, let’s sue about it.”
The vocabulary reference was to the Trump administration’s barring of AP journalists from the Oval Office and Air Force One because AP did not honor President Trump’s decision to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The AP filed a lawsuit on Feb. 21 against three White House officials, saying those actions violated the First and Fifth Amendments.
Among those honored at the dinner, attended by 225 people at the symbolically significant Watergate Hotel — the name conjuring one of the press’ finest investigative moments — were Rachel Scott of ABC News (pictured, above, with Pierre Thomas, credit RTDNA) , whose tough questions included those posed to then-candidate Donald Trump at last year’s convention of the National Association of Black Journalists, and Omar Jimenez of CNN (pictured, below, credit RTDNA), the Afro-Latino reporter whom police arrested on live television in 2020 as he covered the Minneapolis protests against the police murder of George Floyd.
“Scott’s career has been defined by her ability to hold leaders accountable,” the group said, citing her pointed questions as evidence. Jimenez was called a “one of a kind storyteller” who was shown “on the fearless front lines.”
Another Black journalist, Pierre Thomas, chief justice correspondent for ABC News, was master of ceremonies.
While Palestinians did not take the stage, Trey Yingst (pictured, below), Fox News Channel’s chief foreign correspondent and another award winner, pleaded for more attention to the number of Palestinian journalists who had been killed in Gaza.
Last September, the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders held “flash protests” in 10 cities “to pay homage to the journalists killed in Gaza. Since October 7, the Israeli army has killed over 130 journalists in the Palestinian enclave, at least 32 of whom were murdered while working. With this global awareness campaign, RSF aims to alert the international public to the gravity of this crisis: the alarming rate at which these journalists are being killed is jeopardising the right to free and independent information.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists said last April, “Six months into the Israel-Gaza war, Gaza’s journalists remain almost the sole eyes and ears on the ground as foreign correspondents are effectively barred from the territory.” “The Gaza press corps has paid a heavy price for its coverage, with scores killed, injured, or arrested.”
Steve Inskeep, a host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” invited Associated Press Radio White House correspondent Sagar Meghani to the NPR table as a gesture of support for the AP, which received the RTDNA Foundation’s Citation of Courage Award for fighting back against the White House.
Harry A. Jessell wrote a more complete account of the event for TVNewser.
You may also watch a video of the 2 1/2-hour event here
For Omar Jimenez – Intro: 25:04 | Speech: 30:38
Rachel Scott – Intro: 1:19:57 | Speech: 1:56:00
Lesley Stahl, who received standing ovations that made her the star of the night – Intro: 2:11:44 | Speech: 2:19:19
Wesley Lowery (pictured), described as “widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading journalists covering issues of law enforcement, race and justice” when he joined American University in 2023, has left the institution, the university’s communications office confirmed Tuesday in a terse message.
“Wesley Lowery is no longer at AU,” it said.
