WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2019–The Military Reporters and Editors association expressed its support this month for the establishment in Washington, D.C., of a memorial to journalists who lost their lives doing their jobs.
MRE President John M. Donnelly wrote a letter Sept. 17 expressing the importance of commemorating all journalists who lost their lives around the world while reporting, not least those who perished while covering wars.
“MRE includes journalists who have covered and will cover war zones,” Donnelly wrote to the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission. “So it is especially important for us to know that the sacrifices our brothers and sisters have made will be remembered.”
The advisory commission will recommend to Congress whether to use federal land for the memorial, which will be privately funded. Congress and the president must enact legislation establishing the memorial, and bills to do so are pending in the House and Senate.
Donnelly’s letter recounted the many reporters who have died covering wars, including Ernie Pyle, Daniel Pearl, Michael Kelly, Marie Colvin and James Foley.
“These journalists and too many more paid the ultimate price while they tried to inform the world’s citizens,” Donnelly said.
The National Press Club Journalism Institute has established a Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation to advocate for the memorial.
MRE, based in Washington, D.C., represents several hundred American journalists who specialize in covering national security as well as communications professionals and others in the field.