What's in a Name: This Free Press Isn't 'The' Free Press

THE Free Press is a right-leaning website that former New York Times opinion columnist Bari Weiss started after leaving the paper and claiming that her colleagues had ostracized her for her anti-woke views. Weiss has since become a darling of the billionaire-media set, jetting to Sun Valley to talk deals with the likes of the Murdochs, Redstones and Ellisons. 

In contrast, our Free Press , the 22-year-old advocacy organization that fights for your rights to connect and communicate, is rooted in the belief that a media system controlled by a few mega-wealthy individuals is inherently incapable of speaking truth to power and giving people the information they need to meaningfully engage in a democracy. 

Since our founding in 2003, Free Press has fought to expose and resist the billionaire capture of our media system, defend journalists’ independence, protect public media, and demand real accountability from the FCC and Congress.

A case of mistaken identity

I bring this up because this Free Press gets a lot of calls. Well … we get more than just that.

We get emails and texts and otherwise hear from people asking what our plans are now that Free Press is in charge of CBS News. We also hear from angry customers — people upset that they haven’t been able to log on to our website despite paying what seems to be a lot of money to access it. 

This Free Press is facing a serious case of mistaken identity. (And our website is free to all comers, by the way). 

On Oct. 6, Paramount announced that it was purchasing THE Free Press for roughly $150 million. As part of the deal, Paramount’s boss, David Ellison, installed Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News — even though she has zero experience in broadcast journalism. 

The move has reportedly sent heads spinning in the newsrooms of award-winning CBS programs like 60 Minutes, where reporters and producers fear that “that a Trumpified Weiss is storming the citadel of objective journalism,” according to The New Yorker’s Jon Allsop.

Who we are

So, again, just to be clear: We’re Free Press — which actually takes the notion of a free, independent and adversarial media seriously. By design, our Free Press is not beholden to the big-money interests of media billionaires or aligned with the political power elite. We’ve never taken a cent from business, government or political parties. 

THE Free Press, on the other hand, is a beast of a different order — one that is now part of the billionaire-controlled media establishment that is capitulating to an authoritarian administration. 

While Weiss borrowed our name, the two organizations could not be more different. This Free Press doesn’t turns a blind eye to Trump’s censorship. Where we stand firmly behind the First Amendment, THE Free Press has attacked reporters for challenging the White House and cheered for crackdowns on pro-Palestine student protesters. 

While we fight to defend public media, THE Free Press has aligned with Trumpist calls to defund it. Where we believe in the bright future of a diverse and equitable multiracial democracy, THE Free Press frequently condemns inclusivity and slams anything it regards as “woke.”

For us, free press is not a shallow branding exercise, but an idea that is essential to having a functional, healthy and inclusive civic life. This Free Press’ priority is to advocate for the public interest and engage people in media- and tech-policy debates. We exist to promote diverse and independent ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what’s actually happening in their communities.

Who we aren’t

Our Free Press has been around long enough to understand the perils of giving too much control over the media to too few. We’re the organization that believes that the rights protected under the First Amendment extend to everyone — and not just to those who share Weiss’ pro-Trump perspective.

If you need to know more about THE Free Press’  biased approach to free speech, read Popular Information’s editorial review of the outlet, which finds that the opinion site “repeatedly distorts the truth to conform to its right-wing ideological agenda.”

Our Free Press doesn’t spend time schmoozing with media billionaires. Instead, this Free Press is focusing on pressuring Congress to investigate political interference in media mergers, like the one that joined Paramount/CBS to Skydance. We’re challenging FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s efforts to punish and censor news outlets that don’t toe the Trump line, and are mobilizing journalists and the public to support and defend newsroom independence.

Our Media Capitulation Index exposes the many entanglements between media owners and political power that often make it impossible for their news properties to hold the Trump administration accountable. The index rates the cowardice of billionaire media tycoons and tracks their slide toward propaganda using a chicken scale. (Weiss’ new bosses at Paramount earned a four-chicken rating for “obeying” the Trump administration at nearly every turn.)

So when someone talks about the importance of supporting a free press, don’t confuse the sentiment with the billionaire-controlled media outfit that likes to wrap itself in the rhetoric of press freedom to serve the interests of an autocrat. Supporting a genuinely free press is about building a healthier and more diverse media system, one that speaks truth to power. 

Fostering media that act in the interest of American democracy — and not against it — is the work of this Free Press. Join us.