Just off the main drag of the National Mall, in the shadow of the Capitol, plans are underway for one of the region's next monuments.
“Our hope is that even if they had no intention of stopping by the memorial, they'll walk across Independence Hall on their way to the Air and Space Museum and say, oh, that looks interesting, and then they'll come across the street and learn more about why journalism and freedom of the press are so important to all of us,” said Barbara Cochran, president of the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation.
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The National Mall is America's most visited park, attracting more than 25 million visitors each year.
“One of our hopes is that this will be a beacon of press freedom, not just for international visitors but for people from all over the country,” Cochran said.
The monument will reportedly be built on a limestone base, with the main section made out of glass. (Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation/John Ronan Architects)
The memorial has been designed by John Ronan Architects and will be built on a limestone base with the main structure made from glass.
“The aim is to demonstrate quality journalism by using materials that suggest transparency, clarity and brightness,” Cochran said.
The Capital Gazette will publish its “shitty newspaper” the next day as promised.
A walkway around the memorial will be designed as a pathway for investigative journalists to unravel the events, leading to a memorial hall with the words of the First Amendment carved into steel and enclosed in glass.
“This is difficult because, as we know, the story of journalists who have lost their lives is an unfinished story,” Cochran said. “We won't list their names on the memorial wall, but we hope that we can remember the examples of journalists who have died with quotes, symbols and other tools available to us in the modern digital age.”
Aerial photo of the monument. (Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation/John Ronan Architects)
The idea for the memorial came from former California Republican congressman and Tribune Publishing Chairman David Dreier, and the foundation was established on June 28, 2019, exactly one year after the shooting at The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history.
“A completely true story about me: a man unhappy with a lawsuit he was involved in stormed into an editing room, came into the editing room with a gun, and shot around the room, killing five people.”
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Capital Gazette staffers Gerald Fishman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendy Winters were all killed in the attack. The Foundation for Martyred Journalists hopes to unveil a memorial in June 2028 to mark the 10th anniversary of the shooting.
Congress signed legislation authorizing the monument's construction in December 2020. (Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation/John Ronan Architects)
In December 2020, Congress signed a law allowing the foundation to build the memorial.
“There has never been a monument to the idea of freedom of the press,” Cochran said. “This is a monument to an idea, and it's a monument to the people who gave their lives for the idea of freedom of the press.”
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Two and a half years ago, tragedy struck Fox News in Ukraine when veteran Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshinova were killed in a car attack while covering the Russian invasion. Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was also seriously injured in the attack.
“They were there to serve an audience and to inform the American people,” Cochran said. “That takes incredible courage, and that's exactly the kind of courage we want to honor with this memorial.”
