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National Press Club (NPC)


Self Description

June 2010: "NPC Mission

The Club's Constitution states:

PURPOSES

The Club shall provide people who gather and disseminate news a center for the advancement of their professional standards and skills, the promotion of free expression, mutual support and social fellowship...

The National Press Club has been a part of Washington life for over 100 years. Through its doors have come all of the Presidents of the United States since Theodore Roosevelt, as well as kings and queens, prime ministers, premiers, senators, congressmen, cabinet officials, ambassadors, scholars, entertainers, business leaders, and athletes. Its members have included all of the Presidents of the United States since Warren Harding and most have spoken from the Club's podium.

On March 12, 1908, thirty-two newspapermen met at the Washington Chamber of Commerce to discuss starting a club for journalists. At the meeting they agreed to meet again on March 29, 1908 in the F Street parlor of the Willard Hotel to frame a constitution for the National Press Club....

At its inception the National Press Club opened its doors only to white male journalists. In response to the National Press Club's closed door policy towards women the Women's National Press Club was formed in 1919. After World War II there were many developments and changes in American society, including the accelerated efforts by the African-American community toward equal rights. In 1955, the National Press Club voted to admit African-American journalists to its membership. Shortly after African-Americans were admitted as Club members, women journalists began to voice their opposition to their segregation. The battle grew more contentious as the years passed and by late 1970 members of the Women's National Press Club decided to push the issue by voting almost unanimously to admit men into their ranks in December of 1970. This vote helped to push a 227 to 56 vote to admit women in January of 1971.

Today membership in the club is open to all active journalists, former journalists, government information officers, and to those considered by journalists to be regular news sources."

http://npc.press.org/about/history.cfm

Third-Party Descriptions

June 2010: "Before joining Hearst, she had worked for United Press International since 1943. A native of Kentucky, grew up in Detroit, and the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, she had a résumé with a litany of firsts: first female officer of the National Press Club, first female president of the White House Correspondents’ Association."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/business/media/08thomas.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Helen Thomas Person Jun 10, 2010

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Mar 29, 2011 Alaska Clash Over Resources and Rights Heats Up

QUOTE: The fate of Arctic wildlife is just one front in the fight to free Alaska from the federal environmental restrictions that limit its ability to drill for oil, build roads, mine precious metals and otherwise make a living developing the state and its abundant natural resources. Mr. Parnell... outlined what his office called his “strategy to fight federal overreach..." He said the federal government was “openly hostile” to oil production in Alaska.

 New York Times
Jun 07, 2010 Reporter Retires After Words About Israel

QUOTE: Ms. Thomas said on Monday that she was retiring, effective immediately, after an uproar over her recent remarks that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go home to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.”

 New York Times