Award-winning Voice of OC reporter Hosam Elattar was elected to the Orange County Press Club Board in October.
Elattar covers Anaheim and North Orange County, the Arab & Muslim American community, food insecurity, housing & homelessness, religion and education at the Voice of OC.
“This is an opportunity for me to give back to my profession, and the professional storytellers and journalists reporting on things impacting the quality of life of residents in this county,” he said.
Elattar was elected alongside Destiny Torres and Hanna Kang of the Orange County Register, as well as Carrie Freitas, CEO of Kitchen Table Marketing + PR (KTM).
They join the board’s returning members: Andrew Turner, Breeana Greenberg, Clara Beard, David N. Young and Patty Marsters.
“I am always wary of glorifying journalists as ‘heroes’ — but that is precisely who Hosam Elattar is. For five years, I watched Hosam supply Orange County residents with news that is unflinching yet compassionate. He was a premier voice in Little Arabia’s fight for formal recognition in West Anaheim.” said Brandon Pho, the OC Press Club’s outgoing president and former Voice of OC reporter.
“His reporting pressured Anaheim council members to proceed with an internal investigation of corruption at City Hall. He is not just a reporter — he’s an artist. And it takes an artist to envision a future for Southern California’s journalism landscape as the industry faces unceasing threats to its humanity: From hedge fund takeovers to AI outsourcing.”
“Ecstatic doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction to his election to the OC Press Club Board of Directors.”
Pho has served on the board since 2021.
Orange County’s journalists began organizing in the 1910s, when reporters from Orange and Santa Ana gathered at Downtown Santa Ana cafe to launch the first press club.
The club’s current iteration was formed in 1953 by former OC Register Civic Editor Harry Harvey.
“It’s important to be involved in the Press Club to stand up for the interests of journalists across the county and to make sure they’re not silenced,” Elattar said. “And to advocate for a better future for all reporters.”
