SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter

Illustration by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

While inviting journalists to join the Society of Professional Journalists, we’re often asked what SPJ does for them. The short answer: Plenty. Slightly longer answer: One big way is that we speak truth to power when journalists are threatened, denied access or wrongfully accused.

Here are three examples from the last few weeks of how SPJ advocates on behalf of journalists and their interests and the preservation of a free, independent and assertive press, taken from SPJ News on spj.org. Find out more here about how to join SPJ.:

SPJ-led coalition urges VA to end investigations into employees for speaking to press — On May 12, SPJ, joined by a coalition of more than 20 press freedom, journalism and civil liberties organizations, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas A. Collins urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to end investigations into employees for speaking with the press in their personal capacities. The coalition also calls on the VA to review and revise any policies or practices that restrict such protected speech.

SPJ joins coalition urging DOJ to drop charges against journalists — On May 1, SPJ joined a coalition of civil liberties led by Amnesty International urging the U.S. Department of Justice to drop charges against journalist Georgia Fort and other members of the press. The charges brought against Fort stem from coverage of a January demonstration in St. Paul, Minnesota, protesting a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation in the area. Fort and other journalists were present to document the event. In the days that followed, federal prosecutors pursued charges against multiple individuals, including members of the press.

SPJ condemns FCC overreach into broadcasters’ editorial independence — On April 29, SPJ strongly opposed the Federal Communications Commission’s order calling for a review of all ABC owned and operated stations’ licenses in apparent retaliation for broadcasting content the administration does not like. Weaponizing the license-review process against constitutionally protected speech not only represents a blow to press freedom but also undermines stations’ journalism ethics. The order that ABC renew all of its stations’ licenses follows a demand from President Donald Trump that the broadcaster fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for a joke he made last week, in which he described Melania Trump as having “a glow like an expectant widow.” The subsequent FCC license-renewal order sends a chilling message, not just to ABC affiliates but to broadcasters and journalists nationwide, that publishing content deemed unacceptable by the administration may threaten their very existence.

Find out more here about how to join SPJ.