Mabry Welcomes New Board

The work of the Overseas Press Club has rarely been more difficult – or more important.

Our world is more interconnected and complex than ever. We have the technology to tell stories nearly instantaneously from anywhere on the surface of the planet. And humankind has an unquenchable thirst to absorb them.

Yet journalists – of the professional and citizen variety – are besieged by threats, mortal and existential. The resources American journalism organizations commit to covering the world continues to fall. Governments around the world assassinate reporters with impunity. And our own government has made it a point to go after whistleblowers and journalists. (We hope the attorney general’s words that no journalist should go to jail for doing her job will dictate the future of the case against New York Times journalist James Risen.)

On the day that I received the honor of being elected your president, President Obama addressed the world and the murderers of American journalist James Foley.

“Today, the entire world is appalled by the brutal murder of Jim Foley by the terrorist group ISIL. Jim was a journalist, a son, a brother and a friend. He reported from difficult and dangerous places, bearing witness to the lives of people a world away.”

The first word Obama used to describe Foley was “journalist.”

Like many foreign correspondents, he was working in a dangerous place. Like many foreign correspondents, he did not have health care and a pension provided by a big company where he was a staff reporter.

If the OPC is to remain relevant and to grow, we must answer the needs of all foreign correspondents, editors and producers. That will be the priority of my tenure as OPC president. We will redouble our efforts to increase membership, with a particular emphasis on recruiting younger members. To wit, the board voted in June to reduce the rate for members under $30 to just $20!

But we will also increase our programming and our networking opportunities for all OPC members. And we will seek to increase the services and support that we can offer, in particular, our freelance members.

I could not ask for a better OPC board to tackle these substantial challenges.

I have had the privilege to work with many of our new and returning board members – both at the OPC and in our day jobs. In some cases, for decades (Chris Dickey). This board is also our most diverse in OPC history. I think that diversity will serve us well as we seek to grow the OPC.

I could not be more honored – or more humbled – by this great challenge.