Blog

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.

Dear Comcast: Our Schools Are Not for Sale
Media Mobilizing Project
October 23, 2013

In the past year, Philadelphia has seen unprecedented attacks on its public education system, including the closing of 24 schools, layoffs of hundreds of teachers and counselors, and the elimination of libraries and art, music and sports programs.
Olivia Pope Aside, Media Stereotypes of Black Women Prevail
Joseph Torres
October 23, 2013
Gold diggers. Baby mamas. Modern Jezebels. According to a survey conducted by Essence, these are some of the stereotypes the media present in their portrayals of black women.
Google Takes a Step in the Right Direction
Candace Clement
October 23, 2013
Score one for the good guys. In response to public pressure, Google released an updated terms of service that reversed an earlier move to prohibit the use of servers on its new fiber networks.
Media Giants Are Devouring Local TV
October 21, 2013
Most Americans get their news from local TV — but thanks to a new wave of media mergers, there is less and less news to find. A new report from Free Press exposes the broadcasters' sneaky tactics.
Hacking Partisanship
Timothy Karr
October 21, 2013
Washington likes to talk bipartisanship. During the government shutdown, elected officials from both parties clogged the airwaves with rhetoric about crossing over, finding common cause with political foes and ending the standoff.
A New Call to Protect Acts of Journalism
October 17, 2013
More people than ever are participating in journalism. In a new paper we’re releasing today, we profile some of these journalists and highlight the emerging consensus around a new vision for press freedom, one that protects all acts of journalism.
Taking the Fight for Privacy to the Streets
Josh Levy
October 16, 2013
It’s been four months since Edward Snowden exposed the NSA’s spying regime. Since then, we’ve discovered that the agency tracks our phone calls, our emails, our browsing history and our contacts. It also tracks our contacts’ contacts … and their contacts.
Free Press Tells Holder to Stop Harassing Journalists
Amy Kroin
October 11, 2013
Today Free Press delivered 78,000 petition signatures to Attorney General Eric Holder with a simple message: Leave journalists alone.
Committee to Protect Journalists Report Gauges the Press Freedom Crisis
October 10, 2013
It’s nearly impossible to gauge the full impact of harassment of the press. How do you measure the stories that go untold because a journalist felt intimidated?
The Web We Want Awards Its First Grants
Josh Levy
October 9, 2013
Last month, our Web We Want campaign announced the launch of our Small Grants program, through which we made a limited number of small grants to national and global digital rights campaigning efforts.