Lynette Clemetson, Gail Gove and Kimbriell Kelly join RCFP Board
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is thrilled to announce that Lynette Clemetson, director of the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan, Gail Gove, general counsel at NBCUniversal News Group, and Kimbriell Kelly, Washington bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, joined the organization’s Steering Committee.
“We’re delighted to welcome Lynette, Gail and Kimbriell to the Reporters Committee,” said Steering Committee Chair Stephen J. Adler. “I know we’ll benefit enormously from their keen insights and depth of experience as we expand our efforts to protect the public’s right to know in communities across the country.”
Clemetson joined the University of Michigan from NPR, where she was senior director of strategy and content initiatives, guiding innovative projects across broadcast, digital and events. She is the former director of content strategy at Pew Center on the States and founding managing editor of TheRoot.com. Before moving into media leadership and strategy, Clemetson spent several years as a magazine and newspaper reporter.
“I have long respected and admired the vital work of the Reporters Committee,” said Clemetson. “It is an honor to join the steering committee at a time of significant and wide-ranging challenges to press freedom. I look forward to contributing and learning from this esteemed group.”
Gove joined NBCUniversal from Reuters, where she was responsible for domestic and international litigation and all legal issues arising out of the newsroom as the chief counsel of news. Before joining Reuters, Gove was associate general counsel at Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and other publications, where she also handled litigation and advised reporters and editors on media law.
“I look forward to contributing to the Reporters Committee’s crucial role to protect free speech and freedom of the press,” said Gove. “Its longstanding dedication to advocating for journalists has made a real impact in newsrooms across the country, and I’m equally dedicated to advancing its important work.”
Kelly, a Pulitzer Prize winner, joined the Los Angeles Times in Washington in 2019 as deputy editor for enterprise and investigations. She edited the immigration coverage that ultimately led to the bureau’s first Pulitzer Prize in 17 years, and was promoted to bureau chief in November 2020. Prior to joining the Times, Kelly was an investigative reporter at The Washington Post, where she was part of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize team that uncovered the FBI’s undercounting of fatal officer-involved shootings, and part of a 2019 Pulitzer finalist team that undertook a significant public records series documenting unsolved homicides in major American cities.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to work with the Reporters Committee as an editor in the fight for government transparency through litigation and public dialogue on press freedoms,” Kelly said. “I am delighted to join the Steering Committee to continue this work to help others.”
In December, Norm Pearlstine was formally elected to the executive committee. The longtime news industry leader and former executive editor of the Los Angeles Times joined the Steering Committee in November 2019.
In January, Katie Townsend became the Reporters Committee’s Deputy Executive Director and Legal Director. In this role, she will continue to oversee the Reporters Committee’s legal services portfolio, including its direct litigation and amicus practices.
Members of the Steering Committee serve three-year terms. View the complete list of Steering Committee members.
The Reporters Committee regularly files friend-of-the-court briefs and its attorneys represent journalists and news organizations pro bono in court cases that involve First Amendment freedoms, the newsgathering rights of journalists and access to public information. Stay up-to-date on our work by signing up for our monthly newsletter and following us on Twitter or Instagram.