Were honored to have you celebrate with us tonight the awards for the six men and women. Now standard speaker protocol calls for me to make a joke at this point. To relax the room, bring us together and go on to more serious subjects. David bradley is the genius at this, the problem, i dont know any jokes about the First Amendment. Unless i go all George Carlin on you. And we have to keep this dinner pg. So i did what a modern person would do. I googled, i mean, i asked alexa, i mean, i asked siri about jokes about the First Amendment. Not much luck there. Not due to the technology of course. There are many stories about some making jokes about the First Amendment and countless stories about whether or not the amendment does cover jokes about mothers in law, police, or various ethnic and racial minorititiy t minorities. The answer, by the way, is yes, yes, yes. I found some possible material from lenny bruce, but i figured we had that material covered already. Seriously, i cant remember a time in my life when the freedoms of the First Amendment were more at the forefront of the conversation or more threatened. Later this week the museum will release its first Quarterly Report on the state of the First Amendment. We have created a panel of 15 esteemed constitutional scholars to grade from the political spectrum on how were doing on each of the five freedoms. The composite grade they give us right now is cplus. Freedom of the press is doing the worst with the c, while doing the assembly of the petition, the forgotten freedom are doing fair at bminus. We clearly need help as a society as there are some significant doubts about how were faring with our fundamental freedoms. That is why tonight is so special. The six amazing individuals we honor tonight have been on the forefront of the battle to defend Free Expression and the rights of the First Amendment. They have reported from war zones. Challenged the federal government in court. Battled censorship. Confronted the fbi over americans right to privacy. And then in the case of our Lifetime Achievement winner, risked his very life marching for civil rights for all americans. Before we get to the winners i would like to thank the trustees of the museum, the Museum Institute and the Freedom Forum for their unwavering dedication to the museum, the trustees dedication is long standing, today, the 21st celebration of the opening of the new museum in rosland, it was opened by then Vice President al gore. I would also like to thank our sponsors for their support of the Free Expression awards dinner. This evening would not be possible without your wonderful support. I would also like to thank some other people in the room. And commend them for their work. Actually, i would like to thank all 400 of you, but that wont be possible. Cassy williams, our Host Committee chair has always been a great source of support and counsel. Alberti varguan, former board chair is here tonight. Where are you . There is alberto. His own leadership and foundation support has been absolutely essential to the museum. I would also like to welcome our friends from the charles koch institute. And the aclu. Not Many Organizations can say that. And marty baron is in the house. The Freedom Forum will honor marty with the new excellent media award in this room. Congratulations, marty. The Museum Statement is those 45 words engraved in a 75foot marble tablet in the front of our building. We welcome more than 800,000 people in the world who visit us annual, to see the courageous sacrifices of many, our exhibits, including the berlin wall, the 9 11 memorial, including the Pulitzer Prize gallery have become part of the landscape. Our new words, rock, power and politics produced in partnership with the Cleveland Rock and roll hall of fame explores how they pushed the boundaries of freedom of expression over the last half century. On friday, because our energetic staff just needs Something Else to do well have a program on louder than words with d. J. Yella of nwa, and extra kids, if you dont understand what im saying to explore how rap in particular has affected Free Expression from compton to d. C. In the last year, weve held more than 50 Public Programs to explore critical First Amendment issues. Just this past weekend, members of the Asian American band the slant were here to discuss the landmark u. S. Supreme court case, the trade office, over their bands name. And the band is suing the office over its failure to allow the name to be trademarked. Because it may disparage people. Well wait to see how the case is decided by the case has already given the band a great name for its third album. The band who must not be named. Harry potter reference for the millennials . Under control. The museum has brought together scores of religious and Civic Leaders to help them navigate the religious and public life, to train and help others understand the differences. We have developed the first week of inclass and digital courses to teach clergy and lay and Civic Leaders about religious freedom. Finally, our Museum EducationProgram Reaches more than 7 Million Students in this country and 159 countries across the world. And provides them with digital Course Material about the evolution of freedom and Media Literacy. For instance, we heard this fall from teachers that they wanted to teach about the election, had not taught about the election and had no idea what to say. You may have experienced that also from time to time. So we quickly released our digital collection, election 2016 stunt, which provided teachers with digital artifacts of the collection of how to teach the contentious electoral context. Were also teaching a class to help students understand and overcome, the tsunami of fake news like they and all americans encounter every single day. Including our summer institute, Media Literacy and fake news. Last wednesday we held a symposium on the president and the press. The First Amendment and the first hundred days. Generously sponsored by the Knight Foundation and the kohler fund that brought together members of the administration, including sean spicer, kellyanne conway, and journalists, from axios, cnn, breitbart, msnbc. Again, you wouldnt hear that pairing many times, the new york times, and to discuss the relationship with the media and how perhaps we might do better. David farenthol straight from winning the pulitzer, and bob sheikman, a wise journalist gave a wonderful conclusion. We were covered by more than a dozen networks, and hundreds of thousands of people viewed our syst syst symposium on line. As you can tell, one of the things im most proud of about the museum is our nonpartisan approach to the contentious issues of the day. In a polarized city, in a hyperpartisan town, its hard to be strongly nonpartisan. Many organizations frankly face the temptation to drift left or right as the bases and funding move further from the center. However, we believe that the only way to advocate rights for all americans is to show favor to none and work with all. We believe that the moment is now, for the critical work we do here at the museum. Thanks to your support, we will continue to work to preserve and protect these essential freedoms today and for future generations. To begin tonights award ceremony, i would like to welcome abc news president james gulf into the stage to present our first award this evening. The Free Press Award. Thank you so very much and welcome to the museum. Good evening, everyone. Martha radditz. Going to tell you a little exhausting story about martha. So today martha got off a chain, off a plane, 14 hours on the plane from seoul. Just enough time to get the lipstick on, get here. This is what shes done the last four days. Thursday she was in washington reporting on north korea. She got on a plane that day, landed in south korea. She persuaded the generals on the ground to give her exclusive access to the oson air base. Just miles as you know from the most militarized border in the world. She appeared in every single abc news platform. Then she interviewed the National Security adviser, h. R. Mcmaster, made a bunch of news there as well. Just par for the course for martha. She does this all the time. She was saying she actually hasnt had a day off since the election, for which i feel some responsibility. She had to invent a new word. There was a story about martha recently. Had to invent a new word for her approach, because her encourage, toughness, unflinching dedication to report from the front lines. That phrase is called badassery. Thats what they call martha. She has moderated four debates. On all four occasions Martha Radditz for president appeared in twitters. The reason she gets the access she does and has the trust she does in the military community is her passion for our troops and her commitment to what happens to them when they come home from war. She stays in touch with those who have been previously wounded. She comforts the family that have lost loved ones in battle. Her bestselling book the long road home, which details a terrible twoday firefighter in sadder city during which the Division Soldiers were killed. And she is still in touch with every Single Person she spoke to in that book. And that is an example of a poignant commitment from her to remind us of all of the sacrifices for our troops made every day. Now, even in most dangerous circumstances it depends on people who will ask the toughest questions, wont stop until they understand what happened and why it happened. Depends on people like martha, who is unwavering to bring these stories to light. Lets take a quick look at martha in action. One of the things i love about you as a journalist is that you go everywhere and you youre getting ready to go where again . Im getting ready to go back into the war zone into iraq. We are east of mosul, american soldiers moved in here just about three days ago. The strike is how they fight. Here we go. Just over to the right is russia. You do your job to press for answers. There are two issues entirely missing from your campaign website. Answer the question. Do you still believe what are you please explain whether or not the muslim ban still stands. I love my job because i learn something every day and i share it. Its important for us to be a voice for the american public. What we do is try to find things out for you. [ applause ] so martha, thank you for your fearless commitment to a free press. We are honored to recognize your superlative work. Please join me in tonights Free Press Award recipient, martha raddatz. Thank you so much. [ applause ] congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. I dont think ive every gotten a standing ovation. I could get used to that thank you so much. I love being in this beautiful building. Thanks to the museum and the Museum Institutes for this award. I am truly honored. And i know im preaching to the choir here tonight. A free press is the unique cornerstone of a democracy tonight. I stand here tonight on behalf of so many colleagues and friends here in washington and around the world. I owe a big thanks to abc news for its support, its faith in me, especially our president , our Vice President , the wonderful robin sprewell. Our Washington Bureau chief, jonathan goldberger, and above all, my tireless Global Affairs team, and especially eli brown. Thanks to my husband who is a shining example of a journalist who makes a difference. [ applause ] its no secret that we live in a moment when the free press is threatened across the world. When strong men threaten crashing down on journalists, when we are viewed as the Opposition Party by some and when our competition is not just another network or newspaper but conspiracy theorists on line or on the air. While were very lucky in this country to have free press, nothing is guaranteed. What we value today can become a threat tomorrow. Its vital to make people understand why we need a free press. A free press is also not enough. Its part of a contract, a bond with our fellow citizens and it comes with responsibilities. It has to be free but it also must be fair, fair to those who are maligned, those whose stories are ignored, those who are hostile towards us. Because of this, its a great time to be a journalist, because its such an important time. And so many have risen to the occasion. Its a great time to be a journalist because its such an important time. I must salute my colleagues at abc and elsewhere but we have to remainvil vigilant, and dont t the bait. Dont waste time on the trivial, focus on the truth, mine for the truth, look for the details, in a word, elucidate. Despite the threats. Its whats required from a press. Its what i hope ive done in my career and what i will continue to do. Thanks so much for this honor. [ applause ] do we need a picture here . Please welcome to the stage our next presenter. Dr. Robert franklin, professor of moral leadership at emory university. Christina ariaga is the daughter of cuban refuse knees refugees who left everything behind to flee the oppressive regime in 1969, to escape fidel castro. She has never forgotten the lesson that her parents taught her. Shes made it her lifes work to defend americas first freedom, religious freedom. As executive director of beck earth, beck earth is a Nonprofit Law Firm which has been nicknamed gods aclu for its work for all religions from a to z. In 1992 as director of the villaderes foundation, the human rights group, she helped a cuban defector secure an airplane for a do or die rescue of his wife and children in cuba. The rescue was successful. Her firm won a landmark ruling. In 2016 arriaga led beckett in protecting a muslim inmate in an arkansas prison to grow a beard as an expression of his faith. Becht won another bsh the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Little Sisters of the poor Catholic Charity would not have to pay 70 million in annual fines for refusing to provide employees birth control, returning the case to the lower court to resolve the case. Another case forced the federal government to give back ceremonial eagle feathers that had been seized from a native american pastor by the department of the interior. Ariaga has also worked for the u. S. Commission on civil rights, and in 2016 she was named to the u. S. Commission on International Religious freedom. Lets take a look at christine ariagas work, defending americas first freedom. Ladies and gentlemen, the faith of the Little Sisters is the faith of every american, particularly americans that believe in minority religions, who adhere to minority beliefs. I love that you can still have a Robust Exchange of ideas and that we can have religious diversity. We have to defend all religions, a to z. There should not be a preference for any of them in this country. Shes got the personality that you cant help but love. Religious liberty is not about who god is. Its about who we are. The government has no role. They should not tell you what to believe, they should not tell you what to do. They understand that religion is not the uncle of religious freedom. Fight back. Dont let anyone silence you or shame you or say your identity is not valid because they disagree with you. Were meant to defend each other in this country. Were meant to have a robust debate. In this country nobody gets to touch whats in our hearts or our minds. No one. [ applause ] please join me in celebrating tonights religious Freedom Award recipient, christina ariaga. Thank you very much. I know i speak to the choir when i say do not let anyone silence you, not ever, not government, not culture, not socalled educational institutions, never. It is your birth right to be able to live according to your deeply held convictions. And it is your duty to defend and protect that right for everyone, particularly for people with whom you disagree. Religious liberty is not for kris. Religious liberty is not only for liberals. It is not the eccentric uncle of the human rights family. Its the ability to live according to whats in your core. And thats the only way to live without regrets. People around the world die for that freedom. They die to exercise the ability to do that. Here in the United States, we have it pretty easy. But sometimes even when we do the right thing, we get kicked in the stomach. Be courageous. Be courageous. Dont live a life with big regrets. Of course youll have little regrets like not losing 10 pounds before an awards ceremony. Thats hypothetical, of course. Im very humbled by this award, but i know its not mine alone. I like to thank the people at beckett law who 24 7 pro bono defend the right of religious freedom for everyone, a to z. Many of them are