CNN’S Jake Tapper and The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold Join Marvin Kalb on Saturday, April 8, to Discuss Life in the Crosshairs of Donald Trump’s Tweets

 The White House has launched an all-out war against the press terming several news organizations, including CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, and The New York Times, the “enemy of the American people,” and their work, “fake news.” The president’s chief strategist has called the press “the opposition party” and has said the media should “keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.”

Criticism of the press by presidents of the United States is nothing new and in fact, can be traced to our Founding Fathers. However, the instantaneous, 140-character news cycle in which we live today, combined with a commander-in-chief who tweets at will, has seemingly caused this long-standing adversarial relationship to spin out of control.

On Saturday, April 8, journalist Marvin Kalb, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Washington Post political reporter David Fahrenthold will discuss coverage of the Trump administration, the responsibility of the press in a democracy, and life in the crosshairs of Donald Trump’s tweets.

"The Kalb Report: The Fight for Freedom of the Press" will take place in the main ballroom of the National Press Club (14th & F Street, NW, Washington, DC) at 12 noon on Saturday, April 8.

“In over 60 years of reporting and teaching, I have become convinced that a free press is the best guarantor of a free society,” said Kalb. “I sense now, in this administration's actions and comments, that not only is our press in jeopardy, so too is our democracy. When a president says that the press is ‘the enemy of the people,’ that much of their work is ‘fake news,’ then democracy itself is suddenly in doubt. We must all defend and protect the press, and say to an overly aggressive administration, this far and no further.

“Jake Tapper and David Fahrenthold are two reporters who are making a difference today,” added Kalb. “I respect their work and their tenacity in seeking truth in the midst of this current hyper-adversarial environment and I look forward to our conversation.”

The Kalb Report series is produced jointly by The National Press Club Journalism Institute, the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, University of Maryland University College and the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. For the 14th consecutive year, the series is underwritten by a grant from Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Since 1994, the partnership has produced 93 forums with guests including Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Hillary Clinton, David McCullough, Rupert Murdoch, Diane Sawyer, Roger Ailes, Katie Couric, Bill O’Reilly, Bob Costas, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, and Walter Cronkite.

The Kalb Report was most recently honored with a Gold World Medal in the 2015 New York Festivals International Radio Awards competition for its program "Writing History: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Journalism’s Finest Hour."

In 2012, the series received both a Gold World Medal and the overall Grand Award in the New York Festivals for "Anchoring 911, The Day and the Decade" with Charles Gibson, Brit Hume, Dan Rather, and Frank Sesno.

The Kalb Report series is distributed nationally by American Public Television. Oklahoma Educational Television Authority serves as the presenting station. The series also airs on Maryland Public Television, Sirius-XM Satellite Radio, Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C., and District of Columbia Cable Television. Each program is streamed live at press.org.

Moderator Marvin Kalb is Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and senior advisor to the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Over the course of his distinguished 30-year career in broadcast journalism, Mr. Kalb served as the chief diplomatic correspondent for both CBS News and NBC News and moderator of Meet the Press. He went on to serve as the founding director of Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. Among his many honors are two Peabody Awards, the DuPont Prize from Columbia University, the 2006 Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club and more than a half-dozen Overseas Press Club awards. Mr. Kalb has authored or co-authored 14 books including two best-selling novels. His latest book is “Imperial Gamble: Putin, Ukraine and the New Cold War.”

Executive Producer Michael Freedman is a senior vice president and professor of the practice at University of Maryland University College, as well as a professorial lecturer in journalism at the George Washington University. Freedman is the former general manager of CBS Radio Network News and a former managing editor at United Press International. He has earned more than 85 honors for journalistic excellence including 14 Edward R. Murrow Awards.

Senior Producer Heather Date is a vice president at University of Maryland University College and former CNN producer. She received the Alliance for Women in Media’s 2011 Gracie Award for Outstanding Producer for her work on The Kalb Report.

###