White House reporter to speak about reporting ‘under fire’

When White House reporter April Ryan openly asked President Trump about his racism in 2017, she abruptly became the story. Ryan will discuss her experiences in the White House and her new book, “Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House,” at the Daniel W. Kops Freedom of the Press Lecture on Thurs., Sept. 20. The free event, at 5 pm in Rhodes Rawlings Auditorium, Klarman Hall, will be followed by a book signing and the public is invited. 

Ryan has been the White House bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) since 1997, covering four presidential administrations. In 2017, she joined CNN as a political analyst. In May 2017, the National Association of Black Journalists named Ryan "Journalist of the Year."

Her books include “The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Four Presidents and Race in America” and “At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White.”

Daniel Kops '39, former editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun, established the Daniel W. Kops Freedom of the Press Fellowship Program in 1990. Each year the program brings a distinguished speaker to campus through the American studies program; past speakers include Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic; Frank Rich, and Gail Collins of The New York Times; the American Civil Liberties Union's Nadine Strossen; and Jonathan Adelstein, commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission.