Josh Silver, Executive Director
Josh Silver oversees all programs, campaigns, fundraising and special projects. Josh, who co-founded Free Press in 2002 to engage the American public in media policy, speaks and publishes widely on media and technology issues. Josh was previously campaign manager for the successful Clean Elections in Arizona ballot initiative; director of development for the cultural arm of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; and director of an international youth exchange program. Josh has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and featured in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Salon, C-SPAN and NPR. He blogs regularly at The Huffington Post.
Recent press statements
Free Press Praises Plan for Reconstructing American Journalism
WASHINGTON -- Free Press welcomes the release of The Reconstruction of American Journalism, a new report from Columbia University’s School of Journalism by Leonard Downie, Jr., former executive editor of The Washington Post, and Michael Schudson, professor of journalism at Columbia.
Free Press: Comcast/NBC Universal Merger Bad for the Public Interest
WASHINGTON -- According to news reports, Comcast may soon move one step closer toward taking a controlling interest in NBC Universal. Shareholders of Vivendi, which owns 20 percent of NBC Universal, are expected to meet on Wednesday to consider selling their stake in the company.
Free Press: Public Missing from FCC Broadband Workshops
WASHINGTON – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker will attend a hearing Thursday morning in San Diego to help shape the agency’s national broadband plan. The public event, which is focused on “the transformational change that is resulting from the confluence of mobility and broadband,” was announced less than 48 hours before its scheduled start time.
In the news
CPB President Pushes Need for Quality Journalism, New Business Models
John Eggerton,
Broadcasting & Cable
Corporation for Public Broadcasting President Patricia Harrison said that the media need to stop pouring new wine into old bottles, and that public media are in the best position to do that.
Groups Mount Preemptive Strike Against Comcast-NBC
Kenneth Corbin,
InternetNews.com
There's not even an official merger yet, but already an opposition coalition is preparing for a big fight. Taking aim at the widely anticipated but still-unannounced merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, media-reform group Free Press kicked off its preemptive protest against the deal.
A Preemptive Strike Against Comcast-NBC Deal
Bob Fernandez,
Philadelphia Inquirer
A Washington-based advocacy group said that federal antitrust officials should oppose Comcast's proposed takeover of NBC Universal because the merged company could diminish competition on the Internet and lead to a wave of media mergers.
