The Los Angeles Press Club condemns the actions of Twitter and owner Elon Musk for arbitrarily shutting down the accounts of several journalists, including reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN.
The LA Press Club calls on Twitter and Musk to restore freedom of speech to its platform and reinstate the shuttered accounts of journalists who were exercising their duties.
Twitter, like any media company, serves as a forum for the distribution of information and the open discourse that is essential to democracy. The actions taken by Twitter are antithetical to the long-standing tradition of the Fourth Estate in America. They violate the spirit of the First Amendment and the principle that social media platforms will allow the unfiltered distribution of information that is already in the public square.
Musk has said one reason he acquired Twitter was to have “a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.” His actions contradict that goal.
The mission of the not-for-profit Los Angeles Press Club is to support, promote, and defend quality journalism in Southern California through award programs, guidance for under-represented and early-career journalists and grants to support investigative journalism.
