A View from the Field: Fighting for Communications Justice

We provide regular updates from the field as staffers work alongside our amazing allies and activists to create a just and equitable media system.

• Vanessa Maria Graber facilitated the panel discussion ”Building Power, Safety and Sustainability for Spanish-Language Media” at the National Association for Hispanic Journalists conference in New Orleans. During this Spanish-language conversation, which was organized in partnership with the International Women’s Media Foundation, panelists discussed issues impacting Latino journalists and explored the need for more collaboration and mutual-aid networks. Vanessa Maria discussed the Comunicadores project — which Free Press and allies launched in Philadelphia to support Spanish-speaking journalists and media workers — and explained why reporters need to be prepared for times of crisis.
• Julio Ricardo Varela also attended the NAHJ conference, where he took part in the panel discussion “Post It or Delete It: What Is Your Approach to a Divisive World?” This roundtable explored the perils that can arise when journalists use social media to express their thoughts about historical moments like the COVID pandemic and the Jan. 6 insurrection. Various newsrooms, including The Washington Post, have fired reporters in response to their social-media content.
• For months Free Press has helped lead the nationwide fight to stop Paramount Skydance’s corrupt takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. The day after 12 state attorneys general sued to block this deal, Jessica J. González took part in a virtual town hall alongside California AG Rob Bonta, New York AG Letitia James and other anti-merger leaders. Watch the event.
• Amanda Beckham and Jenna Ruddock organized a virtual briefing for legislative offices on Capitol Hill in partnership with AI Now, the Athena Coalition, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Data Center Working Group. “Stopping the Growth of Data Centers: Leaders from the Frontlines,” which Jenna moderated, featured remarks from Sen. Ed Markey and advocates from Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Texas who are organizing grassroots efforts to rein in data-center construction. “Data centers aren’t being built in Mar-a-Lago, next to Zuckerberg’s apocalypse bunker in Hawaii,” Markey said. “They’re being built in your backyards, in the backyards of working-class Americans who don’t have the time, don’t have the money, don’t have the big White House connections that this industry wields against regular communities all across our country.”
• Free Press teamed up with director Christina DiPasquale to screen her film-in-progress, Barrio Television, at the East Harlem branch of the New York Public Library. This documentary centers on Puerto Rican activists who, in 1972, created the first bilingual public-affairs series by and for Latinos on U.S. television. Free Press’ Joseph Torres, who is one of the film’s producers, took part in a panel discussion at the event. 
• Arin Anderson organized a community-listening session at the Martin Luther King Branch of the Milwaukee Public Library. During the event, Enjoyiana Nururdin of The Capital Times facilitated a workshop exploring how Black and Brown community members can own their stories in the media. Afterwards, attendees discussed ways to stay informed about crucial issues.