As it happens, I often agree with Jon and have enjoyed Roger's contributions to Bitcoin. But in the end I agreed with the initial version not having them there because the goal is to have people who will be reliably apolitical or, at worst, boringly mainstream.
Indeed the press page should not be regarded "a shortlist of people that the community respects". It has nothing to do with who we personally respect, just who we trust can explain the concept as boringly and simply journalists as possible, without saying things that the journalists can blow out of proportion.