• Missing Out: Political Ads, Spanish-Language TV and the Latino Vote

    Joseph Torres
    Josh Stearns
    November 5, 2012
    Latino voters will play a critical role in the 2012 presidential race. An estimated 12 million Latinos will cast ballots this November, making up a significant portion of the electorate in swing states like Colorado, Florida and Nevada. One might assume that the presidential candidates, political parties and Super PACs would spare no expense to win over Latino voters. After all, Latinos make up 17 percent of the U.S. population. But so far, that has not been the case.

  • Your Right to Record at the Voting Booth

    Josh Stearns
    November 2, 2012

    For the most part Free Press’ work on people’s right to record has focused on conflicts between journalists and police. However, as Election Day approaches, a coalition of groups is mobilizing people to take their smartphones and video cameras to polling places to “video the vote.”

  • A Happy Union Between KCET and LinkTV

    Josh Stearns
    October 25, 2012

    When prominent Los Angeles public television station KCET split from PBS over the cost of membership dues and announced it would no longer carry PBS programming, many wondered how KCET might function as an independent local station. Last week we got a glimpse of how that might play out, and it’s a reminder that in cities like L.A., our local media also need to be global media.

  • Join the Money, Media and Elections National Data Happy Hour!

    Josh Stearns
    October 19, 2012

    Here at Free Press we’ve been talking a lot about how TV stations are raking in billions of dollars from political ads— and are failing to fact-check those ads, or cover the shady groups behind them.

    Now we want to pull back the curtain and let you see what’s going on behind the scenes at local TV stations. On Thurs., Oct. 25, Free Press and the Sunlight Foundation are holding a Money, Media and Elections National Data Happy Hour — and you’re invited!

  • The Impact of Public Media: 'I Learned to Read and Count to 100'

    Josh Stearns
    October 11, 2012

    Public media reaches nearly every household in the United States, from sea to shining sea. This week, Americans stood up in record numbers in support of Big Bird, NPR and PBS. But we wanted to find out why public media matters to so many people — so we asked America to tell us.

  • The Next Big Thing for Big Bird

    Josh Stearns
    October 9, 2012
    We have a plan to save Big Bird. If we’re going to stop threats to public media in their tracks — and I think we can — we’ll need thousands of stories from people like you.

  • Stand With Big Bird

    Josh Stearns
    October 4, 2012
    Thanks to last night’s presidential debate, public media funding is back in the spotlight again. Let’s be clear: Cutting federal funding for NPR and PBS will hardly make a dent in the budget but will have a huge impact on jobs and journalism in local communities. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting budget is about $445 million dollars. That’s less than $1.50 per person per year — or about one one-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget.

  • Serious Newspaper Cuts Hit Syracuse

    Josh Stearns
    October 3, 2012

    Advance Publications’ cuts at the New Orleans Times-Picayune took effect this week, and many longtime employees left the newsroom for good. Almost simultaneously, word leaked out that Advance planned to cut about 115 jobs at the Syracuse Post Standard. News of these cuts hit home for me in part because I grew up outside Syracuse, but also because journalism in Syracuse has already been gutted so badly.

  • News on the Go

    Josh Stearns
    October 1, 2012

    A few years ago, the Pew research team, which produces an annual State of the News Media report, declared that people are for the most part now “news grazers” who seek out information from a variety of sources and on a range of platforms.

    Now a new report from Pew suggests that we are not only moving around to find our news but also taking our news with us.

  • Staples, Paper Jams and Security in Miami

    Josh Stearns
    September 19, 2012

    Security is no joke at Miami’s local TV stations. All six stations I visited were behind tall fences with a gauntlet of security guards and call boxes. After my third or fourth attempt to explain to a security guard what the political files were, why I wanted to look at them and why I did not need an appointment to do so, I got to thinking about all the hoops I have had to jump through and bizarre conversations I have had in my political ad sleuth travels.

    Here is a rundown:

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