Craig Aaron, President and CEO
Craig Aaron leads all program, campaign and advocacy work. He works in the Washington office and speaks regularly on media, Internet and journalism issues. His commentaries appear regularly in the Guardian and the Huffington Post, and he blogs at both SavetheInternet.com and SavetheNews.org. Craig has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, PBS, BBC, Bloomberg TV and NPR. He is a regular guest on talk-radio shows across the country and is quoted often in the national press. Before joining Free Press, he was an investigative reporter for Public Citizen's Congress Watch, where he helped create and launch WhiteHouseForSale.org. Craig was also managing editor of In These Times magazine and is the editor of the book Appeal to Reason: 25 Years of In These Times. He has taught in the journalism department of Chicago’s Columbia College and is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Recent press statements
Free Press Action Fund Calls on Congress to Return MPAA’s Dirty Money
WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, the Free Press Action Fund called on Congress to return campaign donations from the Motion Picture Association of America.
In an interview last week, MPAA President Chris Dodd, a former U.S. senator, threatened to cut off campaign donations to members of Congress who vote against legislation the MPAA supports.
Senate Delays PROTECT IP Vote After Public Outcry
WASHINGTON – On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would delay a vote on the PROTECT IP Act. A cloture vote on the controversial legislation had been scheduled for Tuesday.
Craig Aaron, president and CEO of the Free Press Action Fund, made the following statement:
Free Press: FCC Ignores Public by Pushing Failed Ownership Policies
WASHINGTON -- On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission proposed rules that would further weaken media ownership limits for local newspapers and broadcast stations. The agency's proposal is strikingly similar to one adopted in 2007 under former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.
In the news
Congress Shelves SOPA, PIPA
Elizabeth Larson,
Lake County News
Following what's been hailed as the largest online protest in history by citizens and Web-based companies around the nation, two bills in Congress that opponents feared would have harmed the Internet have been shelved.
An Outside-the-Beltway Strategy
Shawn Zeller,
CommonWealth
Free Press, based in tiny Florence, a village of Northampton, makes it clear that its outside-the-Beltway strategy is all about avoiding Washington’s culture of back-scratching. Instead, the group tries to convince politicians to do what it wants by siccing an angry public on them. In other words, compromise is not an option.
FCC Plan to Ease Cross-Ownership Rules Points to Consolidation
Eric Engleman and Christ Strohm,
Bloomberg
The FCC agreed to propose easing limits on one owner holding a television station and newspaper in a top 20 U.S. market. Consumer groups said the move would concentrate too much power in the hands of large companies and limit the number of voices.
