As New Year’s Eve Ball Drops, the Free Press Gets a Moment in the Spotlight

Television viewers on New Year’s Eve tune in for performances by the latest hitmakers and nostalgia acts. This time around, 11 journalists — ranging from familiar faces like Martha Raddatz of ABC to behind-the-scenes editors like Karen Toulon of Bloomberg News — shared the Times Square limelight, part of an effort by the Committee to Protect Journalists and organizers to recognize the erosion of press freedoms at home and abroad. The journalists were tasked with pressing the crystal button that initiates the minute-long descent of the New Year’s Eve Ball, a prime moment on a night that attracts tens of millions of viewers. Just before they pressed it, the journalists gathered around the button, cheering and waving to the crowd before bringing the ball down.