The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press receives $1 million grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association

HFPA President Meher Tatna announced the gift at the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards®

At the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards® ceremony Sunday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced two $1 million grants to support journalism: one to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the other to InsideClimate News.

The grants will go toward providing legal services and support particularly to state and local journalists who would be otherwise unable to pursue the stories that are of the utmost importance to their communities. The funds will also be used in partnership with other press freedom organizations to develop a new public campaign about the crucial purpose journalists serve in our society.

“We at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press are deeply honored to be recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and beyond grateful for this truly transformative gift,” said Executive Director Bruce Brown. “The United States has always been a model of a free press to the rest of the world, but now, more than ever, we must present a strong, unified voice against the increasing legal threats, dangerous rhetoric, and escalating harassment of those who bring the public the news.”

The Reporters Committee was founded by leading journalists and media lawyers in 1970, when the nation’s news media faced an unprecedented wave of government subpoenas forcing reporters to name confidential sources. Since then, the Reporters Committee has been recognized as the nation’s premier defender of the rights of journalists. It provides pro bono legal representation, litigation support and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and newsgathering.

“There has always been tension between the government and the press who cover it, but in the past few years, both the political and the economic climate have made the need for the Reporters Committee and its services even greater,” said Reporters Committee Chair David Boardman, dean of the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University. “We stand at the ready because the First Amendment and a robust free press are not something we can risk.”

In 2018, Reporters Committee attorneys pursued litigation in state and federal courts across the country and filed a number of important friend-of-the-court briefs in cases affecting the newsgathering and publication rights of journalists. Among recent matters for the Reporters Committee is a lawsuit to obtain information about the FBI’s practice of impersonating journalists and filmmakers during the course of investigations and a key brief in support of CNN after the White House revoked the credential of one of its correspondents.

Last year, the Reporters Committee also hosted a delegation from the Inter American Press Association of prominent journalists from Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela to discuss the state of press freedom in the U.S. In recognition of the work of the Reporters Committee, IAPA awarded the the organization with the 2019 Chapultepec Grand Prize.

For more than 25 years, the HFPA has been using the funds garnered through Golden Globe licensing fees to donate more than $33 million in grants to deserving nonprofit organizations and institutions, provide more than 1,600 scholarships to underrepresented students, and restore over 90 films in partnership with the Film Foundation.  In 2018, the HFPA distributed $6 million in grants to over 80 nonprofits and institutions that are empowering the next generation of filmmakers and storytellers, as well as humanitarian organizations that are making an impact around the country and the globe.

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About the Hollywood Foreign Press Association:
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) was founded in 1943 as the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association (HFCA) by a group of entertainment journalists representing world media in Hollywood, who realized the need to unite and organize to gain the recognition and access to studios and talent accorded to the domestic press. All qualified journalists were accepted, with the bold goal of “Unity Without Discrimination of Religion or Race.” A year later, the HFCA created the Golden Globe Awards which, to this day, the entire membership selects, votes on and awards every year for outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television. Members of the HFPA represent 56 countries with a combined readership of 250 million in some of the world’s most respected publications. Each year, the organization holds the third most watched awards show on television, the Golden Globe® Awards, which has enabled the organization to donate more than $33 million to 80 entertainment-related charities, scholarship programs and humanitarian efforts over the last 25 years. For more information, please visit www.GoldenGlobes.com and follow us on Twitter (@GoldenGlobes), Instagram (@GoldenGlobes), and Facebook (www.facebook.com/GoldenGlobes).

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was founded by leading journalists and media lawyers in 1970 when the nation’s news media faced an unprecedented wave of government subpoenas forcing reporters to name confidential sources. Today it provides pro bono legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists.