A View from the Field: Mobilizing Against Merger Mania

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

• Free Press organized a three-day action leading up to the Oscars in March, creating a mobile billboard parodying Paramount Skydance owner David Ellison. The billboard, which circled the Dolby Theatre — the site of the awards ceremony — presented Ellison as an all-too-willing puppet of President Trump. The action — which was part of Free Press’ broader work opposing the Paramount Skydance takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery — urged members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to consider Ellison’s performance for the fictional “Best Performance in a Puppet Show” category.
• In April, Free Press held a related action outside the Paramount studio lot in Los Angeles during “Upfront Week,” when networks promote their fall television programming and woo advertisers. Two trucks bearing mobile billboards and a plane flying a banner highlighted the dangers of this merger, which would allow one family of Trump-allied billionaires control over vast swathes of our media. The animated billboards featured headlines about political pressure, spiked stories and pro-Trump propaganda at Paramount-owned CBS. Later in the month, Free Press helped support anti-merger protests in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C.
• Free Press, Public Citizen and a range of other public-interest groups organized the “Stop Paramount’s Corruption Gala” in Washington, D.C., to protest David Ellison’s swanky dinner honoring Trump. “A real free press speaks truth to power,” said Craig Aaron in a jab at “The Free Press,” the MAGA-allied property that Paramount owns. “It doesn’t cower and capitulate to would-be dictators.”
• Free Press and the American Economic Liberties Project hosted a press call featuring former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, Writers Guild of America West President Michele Mulroney, former CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta and Oscar-winning director David Borenstein to delve into the merger’s many harms and call on state attorneys general to investigate and oppose the deal. Craig moderated the conversation.

• Ruth Livier organized a petition delivery to California Attorney General Rob Bonta that called on him to take action against the merger. Free Press, Eko, Inequality Media and Inequality Media Civic Action collectively contributed 171,000 signatures from their members. The group that gathered in Sacramento also delivered testimonials from the Future Film Coalition about how media mergers harm people across the film ecosystem. Members of the Committee for the First Amendment and the International Documentary Association joined the action, and Jessica J. González delivered remarks to those assembled.

• Jessica participated in “Artists United for Freedom,” an event held outside the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., that Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment organized. The gathering — a response to intensifying political pressure and censorship — featured remarks from luminaries including Fonda, journalists Jim Acosta and Joy Reid, and actors Billy Porter and Sam Waterston, as well as performances from artists including Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers. Jessica discussed how media consolidation undermines artistic independence. Watch the event.
• Jessica spoke during the virtual town hall “The AI Race Meets Public Interest: Survival and Safeguards in a Cutthroat Sector.” The event focused on the need for regulatory oversight to mitigate AI’s harms. She also spoke during the webinar “American Voters, Large Language Models & Shaping Realities,” which explored how AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini influence what information people encounter — and how they process it.
• Jessica took part in “Hollywood Under Threat,” a panel discussion at the Entertainment & Media Law Conference in Los Angeles. The conversation considered how the Trump administration is pressuring the entertainment industry — and how companies are responding. Panelists also considered how media consolidation affects the ability to resist a government demand.
• Jessica spoke during the panel discussion “Artificial intelligence, Authorship and the Future of Creative Rights” at the conference “The Future of Hollywood: Competition, Technology, and Policy at a Turning Point,” which the Capitol Forum convened in Los Angeles.
• As part of her Democracy Policy Fellowship, Jessica and her co-fellows spoke to UC Berkeley’s Introduction to Public Policy class. The discussion centered on the intersection between activism, community and public policy.
• Jessica spoke at a training for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. The training, which the Media Law Resource Center sponsored, focused on threats to free speech and journalists.
• Free Press Action organized a lobby day in Boston to urge lawmakers to fund the kinds of community-centered news and information that keeps people safe and engaged. Candace Clement, Julio Ricardo Varela and Sarah Stone teamed up with a dozen local-newsroom leaders, journalists and community advocates from across the state to meet with nearly 20 legislative offices over the course of six hours. “Change doesn’t start by drafting a policy memo, consulting a small group of power players and waiting for the right political window to open,” Sarah wrote. “It’s about coming together, sharing ideas, providing mutual support and — ultimately — building the power we need to open the window ourselves.”
• Julio discussed representation and community media with a journalism class at Suffolk University in Boston. When he asked the students what they thought the primary obstacles to journalism were, they named billionaires and media consolidation.
• Joseph Torres took part in a panel discussion about the report Media Capture: Who Controls the Story Controls the Future. The MediaJustice study examines how tech oligarchs are capturing America’s media system through ownership, financial influence and platform control — and explains why this matters for our communities.
• Joseph also spoke to NYU Professor Arlene Davila’s NYU class about the Media 2070 essay, which examines the history of anti-Black harm in the U.S. media system. Joe co-founded the Media 2070 project and co-wrote this powerful essay, which builds on research he did for his New York Times bestseller News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media. The critically acclaimed book is a collaboration with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González.
• Free Press launched a mobile billboard that toured Capitol Hill and parked outside FCC headquarters to denounce Chairman Brendan Carr for his campaign to censor and control any media that displeases Trump.
• Matt Wood testified before the House of Representatives about the successes and failures of the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996. In his testimony, he discussed how the Trump FCC is undermining the agency’s mission. Read his remarks. 
• Alex Frandsen and Vanessa Maria Graber were delegates at the News Futures Convention in San Francisco. News Futures is a community of practitioners dedicated to reimagining how people access and use the information they need to thrive.
• Vanessa Maria and Qing Saville presented the session “Civic Media Engages Communities, Informs Audiences, and Empowers Action” at the Online News Association conference in Chicago. Workshop participants learned strategies for producing great civic journalism that spurs action and engagement for communities of color, immigrants and other underrepresented groups. Vanessa Maria also hosted a meetup for Spanish speakers at ONA.
• Vanessa Maria took part in the panel discussion “Organizations Powering Civic Engagement” at the WHYY Civic News Summit in Philadelphia.
• Jenna Ruddock participated in the panel discussion “Bans, Moratoriums, Zoning: How to Stop or Limit Data Center Development.” The conversation focused on strategies that organizers and advocates are using in communities and states across the country to block data-center construction and win transformative zoning policies. Watch the discussion.
• Craig led the breakout session “From the Ground Up: State and Local Policy as a First Frontier in Reimagining Public Media” at the Local Journalism Researchers Workshop in Washington, D.C. “Every community deserves access to trustworthy local news and information that improves their lives — and the market won’t provide it,” Craig said. “The crisis in journalism and the ongoing dismantling of our democracy call for a fundamental rethinking of what public media can be.” 
• Mike Rispoli moderated a panel discussion about local-news policy at the Keystone News Summit in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The discussion explored strategies designed to address the disappearance of local news and considered how those lessons apply to legislation that’s moving in Pennsylvania. This package of bills — which panelist Chris Rabb, a state representative, sponsored — would help expand the journalism workforce, strengthen community-rooted local news and invest in media innovation across the state. 
• Nora Benavidez spoke during the panel discussion “Suppressing Speech: The Trump Administration’s Escalating Attacks on the First Amendment,” which UMass Amherst’s Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy and the Freedom of the Press Foundation hosted. The conversation explored topics ranging from the need for a federal shield law to protect reporters to the administration’s aggressive efforts to block people from filming immigration agents. Panelists also examined ways to challenge these threats and safeguard free speech.
• Nora co-chaired the Section 1983 Litigation Bar Conference in Atlanta, where panelists delved into topics ranging from surveillance to qualified immunity. She moderated a discussion on how attorneys can engage with the media to advance advocacy and influence litigation.
• Nora co-led a presentation at the Online News Association conference about traveling and reporting in this dangerous political climate.
• Nora took part in a panel discussion about censorship and free expression at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit in England.
• In her capacity as a board member of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, Nora participated in a conversation about major bills in Georgia that impact government transparency and First Amendment rights. 
• Nora discussed “Civil Rights of the Future: Dreaming the Fight for the Rights We Deserve” as part of the American Bar Association’s conference in San Diego.