Radio-Television News Directors Association & Foundation’s First Amendment Awards
Freedom of the Press

Ed Bradley, Jim Keelor and Wendy Walker Whitworth were honored at the Radio-Television News Directors Association & Foundation’s 15th Annual First Amendment Awards at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on March 10 for their years of supporting freedom of the press. “Jim Taricani is under house arrest. Judy Miller and Matt Cooper are facing the prospect of 18 months in jail. Nearly a dozen more journalists around the nation have recently been threatened with jail sentences. Their crime? Simply doing their jobs,” NBC News President Neal Shapiro told the assembled crowd. In his acceptance speech, Bradley dedicated the award to the late Hunter S. Thompson and stressed the importance of the work that the Foundation does for the First Amendment, saying, “There exists today a pressure on journalists, an effort by government and corporations to control the message. We stand in the way. It is our responsibility to fight those efforts.”

Jim Keelor	Wendy Walker Whitworth and Wolf Blitzer

Ed Bradley and Bernard Shaw	Frank Senso and Wendy Walker Whitworth

Neal Shapiro and Barbara Cochran	Carole Simpson

Photos courtesy of RTNDF