Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy Receives $10,000 Sponsorship from the New York Times to Support Pentagon Papers Events

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The Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy recently received a $10,000 sponsorship from the New York Times in support of two upcoming Pentagon Papers events organized and led by Chris Appy, director of the Ellsberg Initiative. 

The events, which will be held in March and April, will highlight the New York Times’ role in publishing the Pentagon Papers and defending its right to do so in the face of the government’s prior restraint order.  

“That history remains exceedingly relevant to our own times as the government continues to prosecute whistleblowers under the Espionage Act and to threaten the First Amendment rights of journalists and publishers,” Appy says. 

The first event, a webinar panel on “The Pentagon Papers and the Ongoing Threats to Freedom of the Press,” will take place Wednesday, March 27, from 7-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. During the event, leading experts on First Amendment rights and public interest whistleblowing will discuss attacks on freedom of the press and truth tellers from the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers to current Justice Department efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face charges under the Espionage Act.

It will feature panelists Danielle Brian, director and president of Project on Government Oversight; Trevor Timm, director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation; and Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute. Heidi Kitrosser, professor of law at Northwestern University, will moderate. 

A second event will be held in late April featuring a panel of scholars discussing the legacies of the Pentagon Papers. Details are forthcoming. 

The Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy promotes public understanding, scholarship, and activism in support of compelling, realistic, democratic, and sustainable alternatives to militarism, authoritarianism, and environmental degradation.