Within the Nineteen Eighties, Ben Cardin and I went to Congress from very totally different locations, each politically and geographically. I used to be a younger Republican elected in 1980 from a suburban Los Angeles district as Ronald Reagan swept into the White Home. Six years later, Ben was elected as a Baltimore Democrat who had served as speaker of the Maryland Home of Delegates. I might keep within the Home for greater than 30 years, whereas, in 2007, Ben moved to the Senate, the place he nonetheless is immediately.
There have been loads of instances once we disagreed. However, in 2019, we got here collectively on one subject the place we share an similar viewpoint — the important significance of the First Modification and a vibrant free press.
On June 28, 2018, in a focused assault, a gunman killed 5 individuals within the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Md. I used to be a director on the board of Tribune Publishing, which owned the paper.
Throughout memorial companies and quiet moments that adopted the assault 5 years in the past, I met with survivors and their members of the family. A couple of months later, I approached Ben and different associates in Congress with an concept. I needed to all the time keep in mind these killed — journalists Rob Hiaasen, Wendi Winters, Gerald Fischman and John McNamara; and gross sales assistant Rebecca Smith — in addition to the courageous ladies and men who survived the assault and, remarkably, went again to work getting the paper out the subsequent day.
I requested Ben if he would assist a plan that will honor journalists on this nation and overseas who’ve given their lives in pursuit of the reality.
That’s how we started working collectively to develop the Fallen Journalists Memorial. With out hesitation, Ben agreed to be the lead sponsor of the bipartisan “Fallen Journalists Memorial Act of 2019,” together with Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. Companion laws within the Home was sponsored by Reps. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., and Tom Cole, R-Okla. The laws licensed a basis to construct the memorial on federal land in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump signed the measure into legislation in December 2020. Ben didn’t quit there. He continued to be an advocate for the memorial, pushing by extra laws that will enable the muse to think about a location on the Nationwide Mall.
This memorial, to be accomplished by the tip of 2028, will symbolize warfare correspondents, akin to Scripps-Howard reporter Ernie Pyle, who was killed in the course of the battle of Okinawa; British newspaper correspondent Marie Colvin, who died in an assault by the Syrian authorities; and The Atlantic’s Michael Kelly, the primary journalist killed within the Iraq Conflict.
It can additionally stand to recollect these killed for what their reporting revealed, akin to Jeff German of the Las Vegas Evaluate-Journal, who authorities say was killed by a vengeful politician; and Washington Submit columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated by members of the Saudi authorities.
Will probably be a memorial for women and men who put their lives in danger to cowl native information, together with tv reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward, who have been shot in 2015 throughout a stay tv interview in Virginia by a former colleague; and Dylan Lyons, who was shot in February whereas reporting from a murder scene in Florida.
Simply weeks earlier than Dylan’s demise, the Committee to Defend Journalists had simply launched its annual report on violence in opposition to journalists. Ben was laser-focused on the significance of the memorial as a logo of that danger not solely to the US however to the world.
“I can let you know it’s a harmful career all over the world. Not solely have we suffered right here in the US, however all over the world,” he stated. “It’s harmful to be a journalist.”
For the memorial, the U.S. Fee of Nice Arts has signed off on one-third of an acre between the Nationwide Museum of the American Indian and the Voice of America constructing. It can have a direct view of the Capitol, evoking journalists’ function as authorities watchdogs.
The memorial will probably be constructed and maintained fully with non-public funding. Thus far, we’ve got raised roughly 40% of the $50 million, so there may be but a lot work to do.
The dedication in 2028 will commemorate America’s dedication to a free press and honor journalists who’ve died.
David Dreier served within the U.S. Home of Representatives from 1981-2013. He’s the founder and chairman of the Fallen Journalists Memorial Basis. ©2023 The Baltimore Solar. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company.
