SPJ/LA members attend All The President's Men reading at LA City Hall

Members of SPJ/LA attended a celebrity reading of "All The President's Men" Saturday at L.A. City Hall. The reading was organized by the Fountain Theatre and hosted by L.A. City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell.Actors from the West Wing and Scandal television shows read from William Goldman's screenplay of "All The President's Men," based on the book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein detailing their investigative reporting for The Washington Post uncovering the Watergate scandal.The celebrity line-up included Bradley Whitford, Joshua Molina, Richard Schiff and Ed Begley, Jr. from West Wing and actors Jeff Perry and Joe Morton, of Scandal.“This high-profile reading will be a statement asserting the First Amendment, advocating freedom of the press and honoring the tenacity of American journalism in a free society,” Fountain Theatre co-artistic director Stephen Sachs said in a news release announcing the reading. “As the current administration is under investigation, the echo of Watergate rings loud and clear. Reporters from The New York Times and Washington Post have been heroes, warriors for our democracy, as they were forty-five years ago.”SPJ and SPJ/LA were represented by Matt Hall, Region 11 director; Lauren Bartlett, SPJ Director at Large; Linda Bowen; SPJ/LA associate board member; Leslie Simmons, SPJ/LA past president; Alice Walton, SPJ/LA board member; Joel Bellman, SPJ/LA board member, Lori Streifler, SPJ/LA associate board member and others.