Princeton in the service of free speech

This statement represents the views of the signatories only. The alumni signatories purchased space for this statement in the Feb. 21, 2019 issue of the Daily Princetonian.

If you are a member of Princeton University’s journalism community and would like to add your name to the statement, please click here.

PRINCETON IN THE SERVICE OF FREE SPEECH

As members of Princeton University’s journalism community, we stand in proud solidarity with alumna Maria Ressa ’86 and call on supporters of democracy everywhere to do the same.

Our careers have taken us in many different directions. But all of us have practiced or taught journalism at Princeton. That shared experience made us understand the importance of intellectual freedom, of the free exchange of ideas, and of the ability to speak truth to power.

Those values are what prompt us to speak out on Ressa’s behalf. Since December, our fellow Princetonian has been detained once and forced to post bail multiple times by the Philippine government, in what has become a clear campaign of intimidation against the investigative journalism she has enabled in her home country.

A veteran Asia correspondent for a number of outlets, including CNN, Ressa founded the online news site Rappler six years ago. Her work has won her honors from her professional peers and from international press freedom organizations. In December, Time magazine named her one of its Persons of the Year. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines called her latest arrest “a shameless act of persecution by a bully government.”

Discussing her perilous fight for freedom of speech in her home country, Ressa recently told the Princeton Alumni Weekly that “It’s important to keep raising the alarm when transgressions happen.”

In that spirit, we call upon government officials, policymakers, businesses, and private individuals to use whatever leverage they have to press the Philippine government to cease its harassment of Ressa and the rest of that country’s press. No person is an island in today’s global society; the deprivation of one journalist’s freedom limits access to information for us all.

Our University asks its graduates to dedicate themselves to “the service of humanity.” Ressa has actualized that lofty goal with her tireless advocacy of the fundamental human right of free speech. 

We are honored to join our names to her cause.

David Abromowitz ’78

Attorney, Goulston & Storrs PC

University Press Club

James W. Anderson ’70

Princeton University Press Club Member 1967–1969

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University

Lawrence Ausubel ’80

University Press Club

Professor of Economics, University of Maryland

Melissa Balmain ’87

University of Rochester

Robert Bernstein ’08

Princeton University Press Club President (2007–08)

Attorney

Alan S. Blinder ’67

University Press Club

Professor of Economics, Princeton

Columnist, The Wall Street Journal

Craig Bloom ’88

Vice President, Daily Princetonian Board of Trustees

Richard Brand ’02

University Press Club President 2001–02

Staff Writer, Miami Herald 2002–04

Chairman of Corporate, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Marcia Brown ’19

Editor-in-Chief, Daily Princetonian, 2018–19

Vivienne Chen ’14

Head of communications, Kadena

University Press Club 2010–2014

Jeff Chu ’99

University Press Club

Louise Connelly ’15

University Press Club President 2014–15

Producer, CNBC

Alison Cowan ’82

University Press Club

Former Editor/Reporter, The New York Times

Kathleen Crown

Executive Director, Princeton University Humanities Council

Trustee, The Daily Princetonian

Joanne Csete ’77

Associate professor, Columbia University 

Lewis I. Dale ’64

University Press Club

Gabriel Debenedetti ’12

National correspondent, New York Magazine

Former Daily Princetonian Editor-in-Chief

Greg Diskant ’70

The Daily Princetonian, 1966–70

Juliet Eilperin ’92

Senior National Affairs Correspondent, Washington Post

Managing Editor, The Daily Princetonian

McGraw Professor of Journalism, Spring 2005

William R. Elfers ’71 

Former Chairman and CEO, Community Newspaper Company 

Stephen Engelberg ’79

Editor, ProPublica 

The Daily Princetonian, 1976–1979

Neir Eshel ’07 

Managing Editor, The Daily Princetonian

Marc Fisher ’80

University Press Club President 1979–80

Senior Editor, The Washington Post

Adam Frankel ’03

University Press Club

Former Speechwriter, President Obama

Vice President, PepsiCo

Todd Fredrickson ’83

President, UNIDOS Nicaragua

Teacher/Department Head, Bothell High School

Joel K. Goldstein ’75

Daily Princetonian, 1971–75

Vincent C. Immel Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law

David Hamermesh ’90

Hank Hersch ’80

President, University Press Club Advisory Board

John Horan ’74

Trustee, The Daily Princetonian

Mary Hui ’17

Freelance Journalist

University Press Club president 2016–17 

Landon Jones ’66

Editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly, 1969–1974

Visiting McGraw Professor of Writing, Princeton University, 1995

Bruce Kelley ’79

University Press Club

Editor-in-Chief, Reader’s Digest

Chief Content Officer, Reader’s Digest Global

Colleen Kelly ’77

The Daily Princetonian 

Kathy Kiely ’77

Lee Hills Chair in Free Press Studies, Missouri School of Journalism

The Daily Princetonian, 1973–77

Nan Kim ’91

University Press Club

Associate Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Susan Kirr ’86

Lance Knobel ’78 

Co-founder and Publisher, Berkeleyside 

Former chairman, The Daily Princetonian

Peter Kovac ’96

University Press Club President 1993–94

Peter J. Kurz ’64

University Press Club President 1963–64

Robert Lack ’77 *78

The Daily Princetonian

Eric Lander ’78

President, Broad Institute

The Daily Princetonian, 1974–78

Jessica Lanney ’10

Chair, The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board

Terry Leahy ’76

University Press Club

Chief Administrative Officer

Oconomowoc Residential Programs, Inc.

Laurel Leff ’78

Associate Professor, School of Journalism, Northeastern University

The Daily Princetonian, 1975–78

Ted Lempert ’83

President, Children Now

Lecturer in Political Science, UC Berkeley

Maxine I. Lipeles ’75

Senior Lecturer in Law, Washington University

University Press Club President 1974–75

Chris Lu ’88

Former White House Cabinet Secretary 2009–2013

The Daily Princetonian, 1984–88

James Lynn ’55

University Press Club

Former Editorial Writer, Newsday

James MacGregor ’66

Trustee, The Daily Princetonian

Jeremy Main ’50

University Press Club 1949–50

Time and Fortune Magazines 1958–91

Overseas Press Club, Freedom of Press Committee

Marilyn Marks *86

Editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly

Former Reporter, The Miami Herald

Mary Marshall ’10

The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board

Bob Master ’77

Assistant to the Vice President, Communications Workers of America, District One

University Press Club, The Daily Princetonian

Kathleen McCleery ’75

Ferris Visiting Professor of Journalism, 2016–17 and 2018–19

News Director, WPRB-FM, 1974–75

Mike McCurry ’76

Former White House Press Secretary/State Department Spokesman, 1993–98

Wesley Theological Seminary

University Press Club President 1975–76

Michael S. Milder, MD ’66

University Press Club President 1965–66

Laurel Miller ’86

University Press Club President 1985–86

Betsy Lampert Minkin ’77

The Daily Princetonian, 1973-77

Wayne Moss MD, JD ’74

University Press Club

Crystal Nix-Hines ’85

Ambassador to UNESCO (Ret.)

Former Chair of The Daily Princetonian and University Press Club Member

Brian Kyuhoon No ’10

Princeton University Press Club President (2009-2010)

Head of Public Policy, Spin

P. J. Plauger ’65

University Press Club

Craig Polhemus ’74

University Press Club

Avard Law Offices, Cape Coral, Fla.

Justin Pope ’97

Sports Editor, The Daily Princetonian

Robert Dean Pope ’67

University Press Club President, 1966–67

Todd S. Purdum ’82

University Press Club

Staff Writer, The Atlantic

Former Correspondent/Bureau Chief, The New York Times

Evan Radcliffe ’77

The Daily Princetonian, 1973–77

Abhi Raghunathan ’02

University Press Club

Richard K. Rein ’69

The Daily Princetonian, 1965–69

Founding editor and publisher, U.S. 1 

Steve Reiss ’79

University Press Club

Deputy Editor, The Undefeated

David Remnick ’81

University Press Club

Editor, The New Yorker

Mitchel Resnick ’78

The Daily Princetonian, 1974–78

Andrew Romano ’04

National Correspondent, Yahoo News

Former Newsweek Senior Writer

William S. Rukeyser ’61

University Press Club

Founding editor, Money Magazine

Former editor, Fortune Magazine

Alan Safran ’80

President, SAGA Innovations

Sarah Sakha ’18

Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation

Former Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Princetonian

Arthur Schankler ’77

Daily Princetonian, 1973–77

Mark Sherman ’83
Supreme Court correspondent, The Associated Press

Princeton University Press Club, 1979–83

Amy Shipley ’91

Former Reporter, Washington Post and Miami Herald

University Press Club 1988–91

P.G. Sittenfeld ’07

University Press Club

Cincinnati City Councilman

Deborah Sontag

Ferris Professor of Journalism

Princeton University

Joe Stephens 

Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence

Director, Program in Journalism, Princeton University

Annalyn Swan ’73

Former Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Princetonian

Anne Tergesen ’86

Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73

Vice Chairman (retired), Deutsche Bank Securities

The Daily Princetonian 1969–73

Evan Thomas

Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence, 2007–14

David Thorburn ’62

Professor of Literature and Comparative Media

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

University Press Club President 1961–62

Andrew Trees ’90

University Press Club

Bob Warner ’71

University Press Club

Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer

Jonathan Wax ’68

University Press Club President 1967–68

Thomas E. Weber ’89

President, Daily Princetonian Board of Trustees

Sandra Sobieraj Westfall ’89

National political correspondent, PEOPLE Magazine

Chair of Princeton Alumni Weekly board

Matt Westmoreland ’10

Atlanta City Council

Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Princetonian

Marcy Williams ’84

University Press Club

WSB Radio, Atlanta, Ga.

Nicholas Wu ’18

Michael Zielenziger ’77

Former Tokyo bureau chief, Knight Ridder Newspapers

The Daily Princeton, 1973–77

Christopher Murphy ’20

Barton Gellman ’82

Former chairman, The Daily Princetonian

Edward Felsenthal ’88

Editor and CEO, Time Magazine

Alexis Levinson ’10

Reporter, BuzzFeed

The Daily Princetonian

Isabel J. Hsu ’19

Alan Klinger ’78

The Daily Princetonian 

Mark Stevens ’73

Former chairman, The Daily Princetonian

Ray Ollwerther ’71

Managing Editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly

Former executive editor, Asbury Park Press

Alan Deutschman ’87

Professor of Journalism

University of Nevada, Reno

Elisabeth Bassin ’86

Daily Princetonian, 1982-86

Vince Willmore ’86

Former Managing Editor, The Daily Princetonian

Oliver Attie ’86

Daily Princetonian, 1982-86

Biology Department, Hunter Department, CUNY

Wendy Donath Selig ’86

Founder and CEO, WSCollaborative

Chanakya Sethi ’07

Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Princetonian (2006-2007)

Lee McGuire ’98

Chief Communications Officer, Broad Institute

Reporter, KTVB/ KVUE/ KHOU

Nicholas Confessore ’98

Sara Mosle ’86

New York Bureau Chief, Chalkbeat

Christopher Connell ’71

Associated Press (retired)

David Hochman ’78

News Editor, The Daily Princetonian Managing Board, 1978

Ex-Associated Press newsman

Jonathan Coopersmith ’78

Daily Princetonian, 1974-1978

Kerry P. Doyle ’78

Co-Managing Editor, The Daily Princetonian

Nancy Copperthwaite ’78

Sports Editor

Student Signatories

Kaveh Badrei ’20 | Columnist, The Daily Princetonian

Sinan Ozbay ’19 | Columnist, The Daily Princetonian

Ricki Heicklen ’19 | The University Press Club

Kalyn Nix ’21

Gian-Carlo Toriano Parel *24

This statement represents the views of the signatories only. The alumni signatories purchased space for this statement in the Feb. 21, 2019 issue of the Daily Princetonian.