WASHINGTON — November 13, 2026 -- The National Press Club presented its Fourth Estate Award to ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz on Nov. 12, 53 years after the first award went to Walter Cronkite in 1973. At the same annual gala in Washington, the Club also honored The New York Times, Guatemalan publisher José Rubén Zamora and Los Angeles Times reporter Rebecca Ellis.
Raddatz is ABC News' chief global affairs correspondent and co-anchor of This Week with George Stephanopoulos. The Club cited more than three decades of reporting from conflict zones. She follows a recipient list that includes Helen Thomas, Tom Brokaw, Christiane Amanpour, Bob Woodward, Andrea Mitchell, Gwen Ifill, Lester Holt and Robert Costa, who received the award in 2025.
The New York Times wins a press freedom award after five subpoenas were withdrawn
The Club gave The New York Times its domestic John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award. It cited the paper's challenge to Pentagon press policies imposed by the Trump administration. It also cited the paper's backing of five journalists who received government subpoenas. According to the Club, the subpoenas sought the journalists' communications and their families' phone records. The administration withdrew them after a federal judge threatened to quash them.
El Periódico founder Zamora is honored four years after his arrest
Zamora, who founded el Periódico in Guatemala, received the international Aubuchon Award for reporting on government corruption. The Club says the work led to his arrest in 2022 and his imprisonment in 2023, on charges it describes as internationally condemned as politically motivated. His son, José Carlos Zamora, accepted the award and urged guests to practice solidarity in defense of press freedom.
Ellis received the Neil and Susan Sheehan Award for Investigative Journalism for her investigation into a childhood sexual-abuse settlement. The Club says the reporting prompted a criminal fraud investigation, a State Bar probe and legislation to penalize unethical lawyers. Ellis urged the audience to back local investigative reporting. "All it takes is one story to course correct," she said.
Gala proceeds fund an Institute that reaches three times the Club's membership
The gala raised money for the National Press Club Journalism Institute, the Club's nonprofit affiliate. The Club did not disclose the amount raised. Club President Mark Schoeff Jr. said threats to journalists are personal and intentional.
The Institute provides training, professional development and scholarships. It reaches more than 9,000 journalists a year, according to the Club. That is about three times the Club's 3,000 members.