By: National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley and Washington Post columnist Colbert King were honored yesterday for their role in promoting open government and First Amendment rights.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press presented First Amendment Awards to the three as well as to Mark Goodman, longtime head of the Student Press Law Center.
"What we were shooting for was examples of people who've shown leadership," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee, which provides legal services and research to journalists relating to freedom of information. "Executive leadership, leadership in the legal world and then leadership in print and broadcast."
Curley was selected because of his work encouraging news organizations to fight for "the public's right to know what's going on in government," Dalglish said.
Totenberg, NPR's legal-affairs correspondent, was chosen for her ability to explain complex legal issues to radio listeners. "She can make it sound so logical and so simple. She makes government come alive," Dalglish said.
King was honored for his record of "standing up to public officials," particularly his role in exposing the botched emergency response to the beating death of New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum in Washington, D.C., Dalglish said.
Goodman was picked for his decades of promoting First Amendment rights for college and high school journalists.
Charles L. Overby, chairman and chief executive of the Freedom Forum, also received special recognition for the foundation's longtime financial support for the Reporters Committee.
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