October 7, 2024

Press Freedom

OPC Deplores Attack on Charlie Hebdo Journalists in Paris

NEW YORK, New York – January 7, 2015 – The Overseas Press Club of America condemned the attack this morning that killed 12 people including nine journalists at the satirical Charlie Hebdo publication in Paris.

“This attack against journalists – not in the Middle East this time, but in the heart of Paris – targeted not one satirical magazine, but the very idea of a free press,” said OPC President Marcus Mabry.

“It has already accomplished one of its goals: it has shocked us. But it will not silence us. We grieve for and with our confreres in France and with the French people, of all faiths, and we recommit ourselves to the simple if perilous mission of reporting.”

Charlie Hebdo was under police protection since 2011 when the magazine had been fire-bombed after publishing a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The OPC has represented internationally focused journalists and their rights and those of a free press for more than 75 years.