• Protesting the Koch Brothers

    Josh Stearns
    May 24, 2013

    Every week for the past month, there have been rallies and protests outside the offices of Tribune Company newspapers around the U.S. Rumors are swirling about the potential sale of the Tribune papers — including the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times — to the notorious billionaire Koch brothers. 

  • Come Clean: Groups Demand Transparency from Attorney General Eric Holder

    Josh Stearns
    May 24, 2013

    A day after President Obama ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to review the Justice Department’s guidelines regarding interactions with the press, Free Press and a diverse coalition of civil liberties, digital rights and open government groups weighed in on the agency’s treatment of journalists’ sources and information.

  • Securing Press Freedom for All

    Josh Stearns
    May 16, 2013

    Just days after news broke that the Justice Department had secretly obtained AP journalists’ phone records as part of its ongoing crackdown on leaks, the New Yorker released a new tool — Strongbox — to enable people to safely and securely leak electronic files.

  • Everything You Wanted to Know About the DoJ/AP Controversy

    Josh Stearns
    May 15, 2013
    The story of how the Justice Department secretly obtained journalists’ phone records is developing quickly. Here is an overview of the issues.

  • Stop the Justice Department's Attack on Press Freedom

    Josh Stearns
    May 14, 2013

    It was just revealed that the Justice Department secretly obtained a huge cache of phone records from reporters and editors at the Associated Press. The AP has called this a “massive and unprecedented” violation of journalists’ constitutional right to gather and report the news.

    But this is not just a journalists’ issue. It’s a democratic issue that has implications for all Americans.

  • All for One and One for All

    Josh Stearns
    May 8, 2013
    Imagine for a moment if 50 percent of America’s media was noncommercial. How would that change whose stories got told and which issues got debated? How would it shape access to information or the role of arts and education in our homes and communities?

  • Jon Stewart for FCC Chair

    Josh Stearns
    March 29, 2013

    On Thursday night, Jon Stewart "interviewed" Rupert Murdoch about the News Corp. mogul's ambitions to buy the Los Angeles Times — and the legal hurdles that stand in the way of this acquisition.

  • Watchdogs on Guard at the National Conference for Media Reform

    Josh Stearns
    March 28, 2013

    The 10-year anniversary of the Iraq war has brought renewed attention to the media’s role in the run-up to the American invasion. By most accounts, nearly all major media outlets failed to do their job in the face of the Bush administration’s falsehood-filled campaign to lead the country into war.

  • Local TV, Political Consultants and Election Profiteering

    Josh Stearns
    March 25, 2013

    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.

  • No News Is Not Good News

    Josh Stearns
    March 21, 2013

    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.

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