President Trump’s recent attempts to exert greater control over the press come as planning continues for D.C.’s Fallen Journalists Memorial, the design for which was first unveiled by the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation (FJMF) in September 2024. The monument, planned to be completed in 2028, pays homage to “journalists who died while in search of truth” and recognizes the danger journalists face in their efforts to uphold democracy, according to FJMF’s website.
On Feb. 26, the Trump administration announced that the White House press pool will be restricted to journalists approved by the administration. This is an unprecedented move—for the last century, a pool of independently chosen news organizations has made up the pool of journalists that follow and closely cover the president—and some have criticized the move as a violation of the First Amendment, threatening democracy.
The Fallen Journalists Memorial is meant to celebrate the importance of free journalism in a democracy.
“What matters is that without freedom of press you don’t have democracy,” Vincent Randazzo, project director for FJMF told the Voice. “The right to be able to write, report, investigate, and share information to the public is so fundamentally important to our existence as a country. If we lose our respect for that, I see that as a real challenge to our country.”
In 2024, murder, crossfire, or dangerous fieldwork led to the deaths of 103 journalists around the world. This number is an increase from the 78 journalists killed in the year prior.
FJMF’s mission is to “establish a commemorative work on Federal land in the District of Columbia and its environs to commemorate America’s commitment to a free press by honoring journalists who sacrificed their lives in service to that cause,” according to the act of Congress that authorized the memorial.
FJMF was founded by David Drier, the former chairman of Tribune Publishing Company which owns the Capital Gazette, on June 28, 2029, the one-year anniversary of the Capital Gazette shooting. In the shooting, Jarrod Ramos targeted the writing team at the Capital Gazette’s office in Annapolis, Maryland, killing five employees and injuring two in the deadliest single attack on reporters in American history.
FJMF proposed the creation of the monument through the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act under H.R. 3465 and S. 1969 to Congress in June 2019. In December 2020, Congress approved the location for the monument as well as the funding, which will be provided through private donations under the Commemorative Works Act of 1986.
The monument will be situated between the National Museum of the American Indian and the Voice of America, around the intersection of Independence Avenue, Maryland Avenue, and 3rd Street Southwest, with the Capitol building nearby. The area of land is isolated by the streets, serving almost as an island between the three branches of government with buildings and offices on each side.
This locale is meant to symbolize the role journalists play in “holding those institutions accountable to the people,” according to the FJMF website.
Photo courtesy of Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation/John Ronan Architects What the planned design for the memorial will look like in the dark.Photo courtesy of Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation/John Ronan Architects
The design will consist of 300 glass elements in a circular configuration, with many entry points across the monuments, signifying the many journeys a journalist can embark on in the quest for truth. Each glass piece will be crafted differently, showing the perspectives of all journalists, with the material itself symbolizing the transparency in journalistic work. A built-in light will illuminate the structure after dark, signifying how journalists oversee democracy at all times.
The center of the circle will be titled “Remembrance Hall,” featuring a reflective emblem of the First Amendment of the Constitution. The monument will also be accompanied with a website with information about slain journalists. According to Randazzo, the website is meant to keep the monument relevant no matter how much time passes.
Photo courtesy of Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation/John Ronan Architects “Remembrance Hall” in the planned design for the memorial.Photo courtesy of Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation/John Ronan Architects
“It’s important that the memorial serves not just as a static monument, but a dynamic institution,” Randazzo said.
The design can be viewed in further detail on the FJMF website.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts passed the design plan for the memorial on Jan. 16, 2025. This will allow the FJMF to move forward with the approval process to attain a construction permit the following year.
Now, as journalists are sounding the alarm on attacks on the press under Trump, journalistic integrity and freedom are at the forefront of the conversation about freedoms and democracy promised by the U.S. Constitution. The Fallen Journalists Memorial serves as a testament to a long history of journalism in the U.S.
Randazzo emphasized that the press is a crucial part of the foundations of the country.
“Journalism is such an important foundational element of our democracy,” Randazzo said. “Journalists tell the story of our history.”
