Free Press Launches 'Pressing Issues'

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Free Press publicly launched Pressing Issues, a twice-weekly newsletter, designed to cut through the noise of media-industry news and connect journalists, advocates and communities who believe media should serve democracy, not destroy it.

Pressing Issues, which has been in beta for six weeks, has already covered the aftermath of the White House campaign to zero out federal funding for public media and analyzed the FCC’s moves to allow unprecedented waves of media consolidation. The newsletter has called for answers about ICE targeting a longtime reporter in “Five Questions About Detained Journalist Mario Guevara,” and raised serious concerns about corporate media’s failures in “Paramount’s Bari Weiss Overture Signals a CBS News Pivot Toward Propaganda.”

Subscribing to Pressing Issues is free at this link: https://pressingissues.org/#/portal/signup   

“So often in media coverage, the public-interest perspective is relegated to ‘the kicker’ — the last paragraph in the story that nobody reads,” says Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron, who writes weekly for the newsletter. “We work to flip that approach. That’s the point of this newsletter: to put the public first. The stakes have never been higher, and we hope people will keep reading, share our stories and be part of shaping what comes next.”

For Tuesday’s issue, Aaron outlines the six “bigger swings” we collectively need to take to build a better media future for everyone in the United States. 

Free Press’ Julio Ricardo Varela, an award-winning journalist and commentator, edits Pressing Issues. The newsletter will feature contributions from Free Press experts — including Nora Benavidez, Alex Frandsen, Jessica J. González, Timothy Karr, Jenna Ruddock and Joseph Torres — alongside interviews with lawmakers and prominent media figures.