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Non-profit

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Location:

Washington, DC
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Executive Director:

Bruce Brown
Financials (2018):

Revenue: $4,141,185

Expenses: $2,811,085

Assets: $14,343,855

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The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is a nonprofit organization that provides legal support and professional and educational resources to reporters as well as engaging in lawsuits to promote media access to various public records. The organization advocates pro-reporter stances on issues surrounding content restriction, libel, privacy, and access to court records while also providing legal resources and services to reporters including guides on legal recording practices, election law, and court proceedings. 1 The organization has recently opened local legal clinics to provide pro bono legal services on behalf of reporters and has launched such efforts in Colorado, Oregon, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. 2

The organization is supported by many left-leaning funding organizations including the Democracy Fund, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. 3

Background

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was founded in 1970 as government agencies and courts were forcing reporters to reveal confidential sources. When Eric Caldwell, a reporter for the New York Times, was ordered to reveal sources within the Black Panther organization in federal court, it prompted a meeting at Georgetown Law School to discuss the need for legal representation to support reporters on First Amendment grounds. The organization’s first center of operation was a press desk at the U.S. Supreme Court building.  By 1973, it was said that the organization had become an important player on press freedom issues. 4

In later years the organization began to produce comprehensive guides for reporters that survey open records laws, recording laws, and other press issues across the fifty states. 5

Early cases brought by the committee included suits for access to documents and tapes from the Nixon White House, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s official telephone transcripts, FBI arrest records, and an effort to block phone companies from disclosing reporters’ phone records. 6

Many of the early cases brought forward by the committee were viewed as the result of the aggressive advocacy efforts and stances of then Executive Director Jack Landau, who promoted “guerilla warfare” by reporters. Landau’s aggressive legal strategy led to a loss in Kissinger v. Reporters Committee where the Supreme Court ruled that the journalists could not view the private notes and records of Henry Kissinger. A subsequent Supreme Court case titled U.S. Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee in 1989 found that the FBI was allowed to withhold private information in criminal records, handing the committee another loss at the Supreme Court. In 1983, Landau advocated suing the Reagan Administration over reporters not being able to cover the invasion of Grenada in person. Following these early defeats, the organization pivoted away from being a direct litigant at the Supreme Court level and start filing amicus briefs instead. 7

Funding

The organization is funded by groups and media outlets that include:

References

  1. “What We Do.” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.rcfp.org/what-we-do/
  2. “Press freedom group launches pro bono initiative in Oklahoma.” Associated Press. November 10, 2020. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-city-oklahoma-journalism-legal-services-freedom-of-the-press-97a6a66c093228a99084b2bdefaa3fc5#:~:text=OKLAHOMA%20CITY%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20A,local%20investigative%20and%20enterprise%20journalism.
  3. “Our Supporters.” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.rcfp.org/our-supporters/
  4. “Archived: A Reporters’ committee that works.” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/1973_CJR_Witcover_RCFP.pdf
  5. “Our History.” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.rcfp.org/our-history/
  6. “Our History.” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.rcfp.org/our-history/
  7. Mauro, Tony “Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.” The First Amendment Encyclopedia. August 2017. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1198/reporters-committee-for-freedom-of-the-press
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Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press


Washington, DC