Sinclair's Not Exceptional: The NPC's History of Odd Events.

Statement Regarding National Press Club Business Policies
June 13, 2008
WASHINGTON, June 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Because of potential confusion over the business policies at the National Press Club, the Club issued the following statement Friday:

It is the policy of the National Press Club to rent rooms for news conferences. We do this for thousands of events per year and have been doing so for a century. By renting a room for an event, we are not promoting or condoning or agreeing with the issues or policy positions or people involved in these events. We believe in the ability of reporters to ask good questions and report news or not as they see fit from events that take place at our location. The National Press Club does sponsor some events that are held at the Club. These include our Luncheon Series and our Newsmakers, Forums and Book events. The events sponsored by the Club are clearly indicated on our website and signs. Events that are NOT sponsored by the Club are indicated on the website as well.

SOURCE National Press Club

There’s been a bit of howling about the NPC allowing Larry Sinclair to rent a room for his news conference. Many claim “nothing like this has happened before”; “The NPC location "legitimizes Sinclair's claims"; "This doesn’t hold true to the NPC’s stated purpose and ethical guidelines," The NPC is “whoring itself out,” etc. While I sympathize with such perspectives, we might recall that the NPC is a private organization that supports freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Is the Sinclair event's topic sleazy? Undoubtedly. Drug abuse, illicit gay sex, and murder aren't your everyday political story (at least, not all at once). But I ask you, is a “pubic service” performed by openly analyzing and then debunking the story via “good journalism”? Does this not fit with the NPC's established purpose and ethics then?

Additionally, let’s look briefly at some of the weirder events held at the NPC. Do you think the NPC went out of its way the legitimize the following items? And this is just a small sampling of the questionable stories, panels, and news conferences that have taken place at the NPC (there are loads more out there. Google away, and let me know what you can find. I’ll add it--I'm especially interested in adding political balance to this list).

08 April 2008. Ed Rubenstein, V DARE, on Immigration (nutshell: the whites are in trouble).
12 November, 2007. James Fox and Leslie Kean on UFOs and cover ups.
30 October, 2007. Ken Johnston on NASA Cover ups (ancient ruins on the moon!)
03 October, 2007. The Social Contract on Illegal Immigration (not-so-subtle racism)
25 September, 2006. Morgan Reynolds and Judy Wood on “9/11 was an inside job”
29 July, 2005. Dr. David Ray Griffin, on "the truth about 9/11"
25 October, 2004. Jim Fetzer on “The Strange Death of Paul Wellstone” (the Bush administration did it, apparently).
In 2005, Louis Farrakhan spoke at the NPC of government conspiracies.
David Duke, confirmed white supremicist, has spoken at The National Press Club. A recent example is found at the Anti-Defamation League website.

Enough of conspiracy theorists and racists—how about down and dirty scandal mongers? Okay.

Remember Anita Broaddick? She accused President Clinton of rape. Well, a panel on her story, called “Too Hot for a ‘Scandal-Weary’ New Media to Handle?,” was held at the NPC when the press and public ignored the story (New York Observer).

4 May, 2004. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were launched at a NPC news conference.

16 July, 2001. Peter Paul and Judicial Watch held a news conference at The National Press Club to accuse the Clintons of fraud.

Granted, that's all I collected in the past hour, but I think it's pretty clear that the NPC isn't striving to smear Obama. I don't agree that the NPC is unethical. In fact, I think they're doing the right thing in removing this story from the blogosphere (where it continues to fester and sow doubt and discord among many readers). The solution is to hand Sinclair's seamy, incomprehensible accusations over to people with the time, money, and resources to investigate and put it to rest once and for all.

So, pretty please, leave the NPC alone. They just provide a space. Let the reporters do their job.