First the National Press Club in Australia said no to journalist Chris Hedges.

Now the National Press Club in the United States has also said no to Chris Hedges.

That’s according to a report in the current issue of the Capitol Hill Citizen.

Chris Hedges was scheduled to give a talk at the National Press Club of Australia on October 20. 

The title of the speech – The Betrayal of Palestinian Journalists. 

“It was to focus on the amplification of Israeli lies in the press, which most reporters know are lies, betraying Palestinian colleagues who are slandered, targeted and killed by Israel,” Hedges said. 

But the chief executive of the Australian press club, Maurice Reilly, cancelled the event.

Reilly said “that in the interest of balancing out our program we will withdraw our offer.”

“It is true that I know only one side of the picture from the seven years I spent covering Gaza,” Hedges wrote. “I was on the receiving end of Israeli attacks, including being bombed by its air force and fired upon by its snipers, one of whom killed a young man a few feet away from me at the Netzarim Junction. We lifted him up, each person taking hold of an arm or a leg, and lumbered up the road as his body swayed like a heavy sack. I saw small boys baited and shot by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza refugee camp of Khan Younis. The soldiers swore at the boys in Arabic over the loudspeakers of their armored jeep. The boys, about 10 years old, then threw stones at an Israeli vehicle and the soldiers opened fire, killing some, wounding others.” 

Being a member of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., I thought – hey, if the Australia National Press Club won’t let Chris Hedges give his speech, we should. 

I rang up Hedges and caught him at LAX ready to board a plane to Australia, where he was going to fulfill other speaking engagements there. 

“If I can get you an invitation to speak at our National Press Club, would you deliver the same address?” I asked. “Sure,” Hedges said. So, I fill out the form we members of the press club must fill out to propose a speaker. I press send. There wasn’t much of anything going on in the Press Club’s schedule through the end of the year and I thought that having Hedges speak at our Press Club when the Press Club of Australia cancelled him would be newsworthy. 

Plus, I was encouraged when the people at the Press Club’s Press Freedom Center got back to me and said they thought it would be a good idea to have Hedges give his speech at our Press Club. But alas, it wasn’t to be. 

A couple of days after making the request, I get an email back. “Thank you for reaching out to suggest a possible Headliner event,” the President of the Press Club wrote back. “The Headliners team, which is responsible for selecting which speakers/events to host as Club events, has reviewed your suggestion and decided that your proposed event, while interesting, would not be feasible for an NPC Headliner event at this time.” 

Unlike the president of Australia’s National Press Club, the president of our Press Club didn’t mention balance. He didn’t have to. 

“This is not balance, unless we accept a world where truth is balanced by lies,” Hedges wrote. “It is an abandonment of the fundamental mission of journalists – to hold power accountable. But most egregiously, it is a terrible betrayal of our colleagues in Gaza who have been killed for chronicling the daily savagery in Gaza, for doing their job.” “No doubt, the corporate sponsors and wealthy donors of the press club are pleased. No doubt, the club is able to slither away from its journalistic integrity. No doubt, it is spared the attacks that would come from allowing me to speak.” “But please, have the decency to remove the word press from your club.” 

[To get a print copy of the November/December 2025 issue of the Capitol Hill Citizen, go to capitolhillcitizen.com]