Platform Accountability
A View from the Field: Fighting Election Disinformation
A View from the Field is an ongoing feature that highlights the efforts of Free Press’ team of organizers and advocates.
Once a month, we provide updates from the field as staffers work alongside our amazing allies and activists to create a more just and equitable media system.
- Campaign Manager Rose Lang-Maso participated in two panel discussions at Netroots Nation. “Disinformation and the Vote: Defending the Ballot Box in a Post-Truth World” explored disinformation campaigns that can suppress voter turnout and reduce support for progressive candidates. “Big Tech’s Threat to Democracy: The Double-Edged Sword of Social Media” examined ways to preserve election integrity in the face of rising hate and extremism online.
- Program Manager Diamond Hardiman and Media 2070 team member Alicia Bell took part in the #Vision25 event series, hosted by the Maynard Journalism Institute in partnership with the Online News Association and OpenNews. Diamond and Alicia discussed the Media 2070 reparations project and pay discrimination in the news industry — an issue highlighted in the Media 2070 documentary Black in the Newsroom.
- Senior Director of Journalism Policy Mike Rispoli and Bell hosted a workshop on how journalists and news outlets can foster stronger relationships with communities. The event delved into some of the strategies discussed in Building Community Power: A Newsroom’s Guide to Equitable Engagement.
- News Voices Director Vanessa Maria Graber took part in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference in Detroit, where she discussed Free Press’ work reimagining journalism, organizing for more equitable media, and centering Black and Brown communities in storytelling.
- Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights Nora Benavidez spoke during a congressional roundtable that Rep. Carolyn Maloney convened on the impact of mis- and disinformation on U.S. elections. “We must rein in abusive practices by social-media companies,” Benavidez said. “Their business models threaten to destabilize our democracy by amplifying lies and calls for violence, reaching audiences with a speed, precision and scale once unimaginable.”
