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Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst emphasized the importance of journalism that is “unafraid, unwavering and unflinching” on Thursday night when he was honored at the RTDNA Foundation’s 2025 First Amendment Awards.
The RTDNA Foundation, the charitable arm of the Radio Television Digital News Association, honored Yingst at a black-tie dinner at the famed Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Each year, the foundation celebrates those who practice, promote and defend journalism. Past winners have included journalists, members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senators.
“Thank you to the RTDNA Foundation for this incredible honor. The credit for our world-class reporting belongs to the Murdoch family, my crew and the FOX executive team, including CEO Suzanne Scott, president Jay Wallace, and senior executive vice president Irena Briganti, who are here tonight. This coverage is not possible without you,” Yingst said after receiving the award.
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“To my father, thank you, you believed in me before anyone else. When I was 19 years old posting news reports to YouTube that no one watched, you believed this was possible,” Yingst continued. “As an international reporter, I have the great privilege and responsibility to travel the world and tell the stories of others. Over the past several years, my team and I have reported from nearly 20 different countries, most recently from Ukraine, Syria and Israel.”
Yingst has covered conflicts across the globe, including the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also put a spotlight on the “brave Palestinian journalists” in Gaza who have risked their lives to practice the craft of journalism.
“We live in a dangerous time of attacks on journalists, of misinformation, and of efforts to silence those who are holding truth to power. Our work is more important now than ever. The First Amendment is more important now than ever,” Yingst said.
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“If you take anything away from my remarks today, let it be this. The people in this room, each one of you, play a critical role, acting as the fourth estate, capturing the experiences of humans, and being a voice for the voiceless,” he added. “Journalists are not the enemy of the people.”
Yingst said that the opposite is actually true.
“Journalists are the voice of the people. May you continue to use that voice in a way that is unafraid, unwavering and unflinching,” he said.
The awards “honor the First Amendment and the bold and brave efforts many take — whether in an instant or throughout their careers — to protect it,” according to the RTDNA Foundation.
“As the world endures conflict on multiple continents, Trey Yingst has a remarkable ability to humanize the horror, making it all the more real for an audience an ocean away. He also has been a leader in the industry, advocating for safety and mental health resources for journalists who witness trauma repeatedly to share it with their audiences,” the RTDNA Foundation said in a statement when Yingst was selected.
“FOX News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream, Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin and correspondent Lucas Tomlinson were also in attendance to support Yingst.
Previous First Amendment Awards recipients include Walter Cronkite, Sam Donaldson, Diane Sawyer, Mike Wallace, Bob Woodruff and Evan Gershkovich.
Last year, Yingst wrote the Fox News Books’ New York Times bestseller “Black Saturday: An Unfiltered Account of the October 7th Attack on Israel and the War in Gaza,” the gold standard in storytelling when it comes to what took place on October 7 in southern Israel and the war that followed.
A Fox Nation series based on the book of the same name includes Yingst and the Fox Jerusalem Bureau team racing to cover the devastating terror attack, the team experiencing the haunting aftermath of horrific massacres throughout the Israeli communities along the Gaza border and the Fox News chief foreign correspondent entering the Gaza Strip during the Israeli ground invasion.
