The following statement was issued today by Jane Tillman Irving, president of the New York Press Club:

Today, August 16, 2018, news organizations across the country have joined in a concerted effort to defend a fundamental American value, the freedom of the press, against attacks by the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump has continually excoriated the press as producers of “fake news” who “only make up stories,” and branded the news media “the enemy of the people.”

Newspapers are responding to a call from the Boston Globe to publish editorials against what it called “the danger of the administration’s assault on the press.” The Radio Television Digital News Association encouraged broadcast and online news outlets to devote time and space to emphasizing “the role the media play in preserving the public’s right and need to know.”

The members of the New York Press Club know that our job as journalists is to seek the truth and present it fairly and objectively. Our colleagues have done so since the founding of the Republic, despite criticism from many sources. Difficulties, obstacles, attacks and increasing physical dangers encouraged by this president notwithstanding, we pledge to continue that pursuit. Our very democracy depends upon it.