American journalist April Ryan is perhaps one of the most qualified and influential Press Correspondents in the White House today. In the face of the current Trump Administration, which has been continuously criticized for its attacks on journalists and free speech, Ryan has stood her ground in defending the 1st Amendment rights granted to all American citizens.

            April Ryan’s qualifications are numerous and of outstanding quality. She graduated with a Bachelors in broadcast Journalism from Baltimore’s Morgan State University in 1989, and holds two honorary Doctorates, one from MSU and one from South Carolina’s Claflin University. Ryan has held several positions in broadcast journalism alongside her reporting duties, interviewing countless high-level politicians along the way. Former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton have spoke with Ryan in interviews, as have Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Al Gore, and John Kerry, in addition to a plethora of others. She has been a proponent of journalism for over 30 years, and has served as a White House Press Correspondent for over 20. In that time, she has won several awards and accolades for outstanding reporting. Most notably, Ryan was awarded the NAACP Image Award for her book “The Presidency in Black and White, and was named “Journalist of the Year” in 2017 by the National Association of Black Journalists. April Ryan’s reputation proceeds her, but her most relevant enthusiasm is that of modern politics and free speech.

            The Trump Administration has quickly become the most controversial group to pass through the White House in years, and has made attacks on Journalists to pass off their own agenda. In early November, CNN’s chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass was suspended by the White House as a “retaliation for his challenging questions.” CNN said in a statement regarding the incident that the administration’s “actions threaten all journalists and news organizations.” President Trump is known for his continued detest of journalists who question his agenda.

             April Ryan is one such journalist. Ryan has had bouts with President Trump and his former White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, over questions she put forward in press conferences. In both cases, Trump and Spicer responded to Ryan with verbal hostility. After asking the President if he would consult the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in conversations about his “urban agenda,” Trump replied, presumably based on her race, by saying “Are they friends of yours?” before cutting off Ryan once more. The undertones of racism are heavily apparent in this statement. The CBC responded by sending a letter to the President regarding his proposed campaign pledge to address issues faced by African-Americans, which he neglected to respond to.

            Ryan is a journalist before all else, and in a recent interview with Stephen Colbert she put forward the notion that journalists in the United States should be communicators in service of the public. Ryan said that the cardinal responsibility of journalists is to “get information, accurate information, facts for the American public. It’s not about us, it’s about the American public. It’s about the First Amendment, it’s about freedom of the press. It’s not about us, it’s about informing the masses, to let them know what’s going on.” Ryan is a prime example of what a journalist should be, and her refusal to engage negatively with her subject is thoroughly responsible, if nothing else.