Texas Tribune Editor-in-Chief Sewell Chan joins RCFP Steering Committee
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is thrilled to welcome Sewell Chan, editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, to the organization’s Steering Committee, and to announce that Steering Committee members Gail Gove, general counsel at NBCUniversal News Group, and Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, have been named to the Executive Committee.
“As extraordinary leaders in the journalism and legal fields, Sewell, Gail, and Ted bring valuable experience to the Reporters Committee as we continue to expand our capacity to provide free legal services to journalists whose reporting underpins our democracy,” said Stephen J. Adler, chair of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “We are grateful to have them among the outstanding group of individuals who make up the Steering Committee.”
Chan, who joined RCFP’s Steering Committee in October 2023, has led the newsroom of The Texas Tribune since 2021. Previously, he worked at the Los Angeles Times, first as a deputy managing editor before becoming the newspaper’s editorial page editor, where he oversaw coverage that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2021. From 2004 to 2018, Chan worked at The New York Times as a metro reporter, Washington correspondent, deputy op-ed editor, and international news editor. He began his journalism career as a local reporter at The Washington Post in 2000.
Gove, who joined the Steering Committee, RCFP’s governing board, in 2022, now also serves as a member of the board’s Executive Committee, which provides strategic guidance to Reporters Committee leadership. As general counsel of NBCUniversal News Group, Gove leads a team that provides legal support for NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC local stations, and Telemundo. She 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.
Boutrous joins Gove as a new member of the Executive Committee. A partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, he is a member of the firm’s Executive and Management Committees. Boutrous, who in 2019 was named “Litigator of the Year, Grand Prize Winner” by The American Lawyer, has argued more than 100 appeals, including before the U.S. Supreme Court, 12 different federal circuit courts of appeals, nine different state supreme courts, and a multitude of other appellate and trial courts in complex civil, constitutional, and criminal matters. Boutrous has extensive experience handling high-profile litigation, media relations, and media legal issues.
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.