President Trump: "It is my greatest honor and privilege to have been your president, I will always fight for you"
Thank you President Trump
I'm appreciative personally of President Trump for MANY things but specifically as a member of the broadcast media, I really appreciate one of our 45th President's last moves in office - signing a bill into law that clears the way for the creation of a Washington monument to honor journalists who are killed while working to report the news. The bill had the backing of the National Association of Broadcasters.
“Since our nation’s founding, a free press has played an integral role in reporting the facts, informing the public and holding our democratic institutions to account,” said NAB President Gordon Smith. “Sadly, too often, journalists have made the ultimate sacrifice at home and abroad in service to the First Amendment.”
The Fallen Journalists Memorial Act (H.R.3465) will allow the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation to raise funds to construct the memorial. No location for the monument has been announced. The effort to create the memorial took root in 2019 after five Capital Gazette newspaper reporters were killed in Annapolis, MD.
“The memorial will honor the reporters, photojournalists, producers, editors and others who have died while performing their jobs as journalists,” said Foundation Chair David Dreier. “It will demonstrate to our citizens and to visitors from around the world that our country values a free press, honors the sacrifices of journalists and supports the family, friends and colleagues of the fallen.” He said in a statement that the Foundation will now begin a “a collaborative process” with the journalism community, freedom of the press advocates and other stakeholders to design, develop, construct and maintain a memorial. It will be built with private funds, said Dreier, who is a former chairman of Tribune Publishing.
According to theCommittee to Protect Journalists, the number of journalists murdered in retaliation for their work more than doubled in 2020, as criminal gangs and militant groups targeted reporters working in violent but democratic nations.