In February 2015, National Press Club Executive Director Bill McCarren claimed that his organization was "an open public forum." He explained that “for 108 years, the National Press Club has provided a forum for people to have their say and to take questions from the press,” adding that the club had never refused to rent space to a group or speaker, no matter how controversial.

On September 7, 2016, the National Press Club betrayed its principles. It cancelled its signed contract with the National Policy Institute to host a press conference on the nascent political movement known as the Alternative Right. The event was to be held in the club's "First Amendment Lounge."

The First Amendment forbids any law "abridging the freedom of speech ... or the right of the people peaceably to assemble." The National Press Club has betrayed the spirit of this proclamation. We therefore call on the club to stop advertising itself as a First Amendment organization and to rename its First Amendment Lounge.