National Press Club President Jen Judson condemned The CW’s decision to broadcast the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Tournament on its network in a statement released Friday.
Judson said the organization was “deeply disappointed” in the multi-year agreement that was reached between LIV Golf and The CW, which is primarily owned by Nextar Media Group, to televise 14 events for LIV’s second season.
“We are deeply disappointed that a company that makes money from news like Nexstar would agree to participate in such a shameful PR stunt as LIV Golf,” Judson said in the statement.
The television contract is the first of its kind for LIV Golf, which continues to be mired in controversy.
WHAT WE KNOW:LIV Golf, CW Network reach exclusive, multiyear broadcast partnership
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The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth investment fund of Saudi Arabia and one of the largest in the world, has backed and is financing LIV Golf Investments, the parent company of LIV Golf. As the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman is the head of the PIF. According to a declassified U.S. intelligence report released in February 2021, Salman approved an operation “to capture or kill” Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018.
The Saudi government is accused of other human rights violations and has invested in Western athletic opportunities in an apparent…
