Welcome to the Free Press blog! We post several times a week on everything from Internet access to free speech to media mergers, so check back often to see what we’re up to.
Say you’re a diehard Glee fan. You know the show took a nosedive after season two, you know there are better things you could do with your time, but you still feel compelled to watch and keep up to date on the perpetually combusting Finchel, Klaine and Wemma.
In 1992, consumers were giving Congress an earful about their cable bills. A decade of deregulation meant cable subscribers had to fend for themselves in a monopoly market where cable TV companies abused their pricing power.
It’s a hot, hot Friday here on the East Coast, a perfect time to dig into this week’s Internet happenings — including feminist wins, the online hacking of our friend (boo!) and campaigns to get us more information and stomp out the trolls.
What’s on tonight?
For many Americans, the answer is “nothing worth watching.” Broadcast networks, once the kings of primetime, are in the midst of a historic ratings decline. And though there are some bright spots on the cable dial, the audiences for some cable channels are also dwindling.
On May 29th, in cities around the country, people took to the streets to tell the Tribune Company to reject a bid from the notorious Koch brothers for its eight newspapers. In a national day of action to “save our news,” rallies were held in 14 communities and activists delivered more than half a million petition signatures to the Tribune Company.
Two years ago, entrepreneur and activist Jim Gilliam spoke to an audience in New York City about how the Internet — the people he connected with online, the information he depended on every day — helped him survive cancer. “The Internet is my religion,” he said to an emotional crowd.
If you thought the Koch brothers’ interest in buying the eight Tribune Company newspapers was business as usual, think again. And today, protesters are turning out nationwide to oppose a Koch bid.
The watchdog group Media Matters recently reported that in 2012, the network nightly news programs devoted only 12 full segments to climate change. During that same period, these programs dedicated seven times more coverage to the British Royal Family.
Every week for the past month, there have been rallies and protests outside the offices of Tribune Company newspapers around the U.S. Rumors are swirling about the potential sale of the Tribune papers — including the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times — to the notorious billionaire Koch brothers.
A day after President Obama ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to review the Justice Department’s guidelines regarding interactions with the press, Free Press and a diverse coalition of civil liberties, digital rights and open government groups weighed in on the agency’s treatment of journalists’ sources and information.
