Mission and Purpose

Our current media system is the result of explicit government policies that are drafted by special interests behind closed doors in Washington, and serving private investors first and foremost, not public citizens. Vibrant, diverse and independent media is the cornerstone of a functional democracy. As corporate-crafted media policies increasingly weaken the foundations of our democracy, people increasingly understand that corporate control of the media is perhaps the most critical issue of our day. As they say “they who control the news, control the views.”

Working together, Free Press and Free Press Action Fund strive to:

• Open up and democratize media policy debates and increase popular participation in media policy making.
• Educate individuals and organizations about the impact of media on their interests/agendas and get them involved with Free Press media reform initiatives.
• Stimulate academic research on media policy issues, and coordinating dissemination of research findings with policy makers and activists.
• Increase the movement’s overall capacity through increased collaboration, communication, and organizing.
• Improve the quality and increase the quantity of our institutional relationships.
• Organize popular support for legislation through coordinated grassroots outreach to a broad range of issue groups and constituencies.
• Shift media reform from a defensive posture to an offensive one, sponsoring proactive and viable incremental legislation with bipartisan support.
• Develop strategies to combat the excesses of big media at the grassroots level, through innovative state and local initiatives in the areas of media literacy, cable regulation and increased funding of public and community broadcasting.

History

Free Press was founded in late 2002 by author and professor Robert McChesney. Prior to incorporating as a non-profit organization in August 2003, Free Press operated as a sponsored project of the Media Education Foundation. During its first year Free Press undertook the following start-up activities: outlined a strategic plan; established a three year operating budget; raised sufficient funds for first year operations; launched the website; established relationships with important constituencies; recruited and hired staff; elected a board of directors and recruited an advisory board. Learn more about about our board and our staff.

The birth of Free Press reflects a growing awareness that media reform is essential to fostering a functional democracy and advancing issues that most people actually care about. Free Press is working with existing media reform organizations to make the media reform movement a more bold and proactive force to advance meaningful media policy in the public interest.