Welcome to the Free Press blog! We post several times a week on everything from Internet access to free speech to media mergers, so check back often to see what we’re up to.
In announcing his departure as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski said: "The last four years have demonstrated that the country needs an effective FCC."
Injustice often operates in secret ways. This has certainly been the case with predatory prison phone rates. But after nearly a decade of advocacy from public interest and civil rights groups, meaningful change is in sight.
In 2003, inmates and their families presented the Wright Petition, which asked the Federal Communications Commission to regulate prison phone rates. The FCC failed to act, so in 2007 the Wright Petitioners submitted an alternate proposal. Last December, the FCC finally invited the public to weigh in.
A recent ProPublica investigation highlighted a network of political action committees that consultants and strategists set up as front groups designed to funnel money back to those who established them.
In the report, which examined PAC expenditures, Kim Barket found that the PACs spent just a small percentage of the money they raised on concrete actions to get candidates elected.
Many of our nation’s leading Latino activists, journalists, artists and media policy advocates will play a key role in the National Conference for Media Reform in Denver on April 5–7.
Your computer has died and you’re ready to upgrade. So you stroll into your friendly neighborhood Best Buy and get a great deal on a top of the line laptop. Let’s call it the DellovoMagicbook Pro.
There’s one hitch: You have to sign a two-year contract with your local Internet provider to get online.
I’m an actress, a partner and a mother who cares about truth and justice. That’s why I’m taking part in the National Conference for Media Reform.
I wanted to speak out because I’ve had enough — enough of the way Big Media exploit the apathy, paralysis and delusion they have deliberately fostered. They make changing our world for the better seem impossible.
But they’re wrong — change IS possible.
In just two weeks, Denver will be inundated with journalists, activists and media makers all coming together for the National Conference for Media Reform. But one of the things that sets this conference apart from the rest is the key role of artists and performers — from world-renowned musicians to politically inspired comedians to Denver’s very own DJs.
For too long, media companies have slashed newsroom jobs and replaced hard-hitting journalism with celebrity gossip, sensational crime stories and pay-for-play content. They defended these decisions by arguing that they were just giving the people what they want.
There are just a few slots left for the National Conference for Media Reform. (You can get registered here.)
Here’s why I’m going, along with thousands of other activists, media makers, techies and journalists.
This week Internet advocacy groups — including the Free Press Action Fund — are uniting to protest CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.
