Journalism Veteran Kathy Kiely is National Press Club Journalism Institute 2017 Press Freedom Fellow

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Press Club Journalism Institute, the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, is pleased to announce the appointment of veteran journalist Kathy Kiely as its 2017 Press Freedom Fellow. The Press Freedom Fellowship was established in 2016 to shine a light on barriers to press freedom abroad and in the United States and to leverage the NPC's unique presence and resources to highlight global press freedom issues.

Kiely has been a journalist for 40 years and a member of the National Press Club for more than 30. She has served as Washington bureau chief for the Houston Post and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a White House correspondent for the New York Daily News and a congressional correspondent for USA TODAY. Kiely has worked as an editor for National Journal, Bloomberg Politics and Bill Moyers and is currently on the web production team at WAMU. She was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University and is a trustee of the Daily Princetonian, her college paper.

"Democracy, both in the United States and around the world, depends on the free flow of accurate information — information that helps people make intelligent decisions about how to conduct their lives, how to expand their liberty and how to pursue happiness in a complex global society. I can't imagine any more important or gratifying assignment than the one the National Press Club and its Journalism Institute have just given me. I will aim to help ensure that 'real news' remains available to a public that is hungry for it, and a democracy that depends upon it," Kiely said.

With increasing frequency, countries around the globe are imposing measures that restrict press freedom and seek to control media by imprisoning journalists, preventing the reporting of truth or impeding the free flow of information. In addition, an extraordinarily polarizing presidential election and the advent of "fake news" have resulted in a climate of hostility toward journalists and news media in the United States.

"Helping people understand the critical role of a free press in our world today is important now more than ever," said Jeff Ballou, 110th president of the National Press Club and news editor for the Americas with Al Jazeera Media Network's English language channel. "This precious liberty is cherished through its constitutional role in the United States and an inspiration globally, yet press freedom faces stunning risks in far too many places.  Kathy Kiely, whom I know very well as a veteran journalist and proven warrior for press freedom is perfectly suited for the role of helping to keep the world focused on promoting and defending our profession." 

"Freedom of the Press, at home and abroad, is a top priority of the National Press Club and its Journalism Institute," added Barbara Cochran, president of the NPCJI board of directors and the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Missouri. "Kathy will be our partner in better informing the debate over this issue and helping provide support for working journalists the world over who may feel stifled or otherwise threatened in their efforts to report the truth.  She is passionate about press freedom and has walked that walk for her entire career as a tough-minded reporter and advocate for openness and access to public records and proceedings."   

Contact:  Julie Schoojschoo@press.org or (202) 662-7507

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SOURCE National Press Club