Our First 100 Days of the Biden Administration

If you caught the president's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, you've heard about the administration's accomplishments and priorities — including asking Vice President Harris to lead the administration’s efforts to invest a proposed $100 billion to get people connected to affordable high-speed internet.

Now we’re excited to share highlights of Free Press’ progress in the first 100 days since Biden took office. Thanks to our supporters and activists, we’ve been influencing the White House and Congress, transforming newsrooms, and holding Big Media and Big Tech accountable.

Here are just a few examples:

• Advocating for media reparations: The Media 2070 team held a series of inspiring events in the month of February that uplifted the power of Black voices and narratives. To get a taste, check out the recording of Black Lives and the Media System and the #BlackFutureHeadlines Twitter storm. The Media 2070 and News Voices teams also joined forces to launch a newsletter about the future of journalism. You can sign up here!
• Raising public awareness: We launched a new show — Free Press Live — which airs weekly on Free Press’ Facebook and YouTube channels, where we dig into everything media and tech policy. Recent episodes have covered the Spanish-language disinformation crisis, how the media harms Black lives and its role in spreading anti-Asian hate. Free Press Live is on hiatus until May 12, so make sure you’re subscribed and get notifications before the next show airs!
• Educating Congress: We testified before Congress in support of the Emergency Broadband Benefit program — which Free Press Action helped pass into law at the end of 2020 — and other critical programs designed to get people connected to high-speed internet. We also hosted a congressional briefing on Net Neutrality and Title II.
• Calling for executive action: We called on the White House and Senate to seat a fifth FCC commissioner without delay. We also marked the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 emergency declaration by joining our allies in the #NoShutOffs coalition outside the Department of Health and Human Services to call on the Biden administration to issue a national moratorium on utility shutoffs.
• Reining in surveillance: We supported the release of the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which would close significant loopholes in federal privacy laws and is a major step forward in the fight to stop law enforcement from spying on immigrants, people of color and others who are disproportionately criminalized.
• Holding social-media companies accountable: We said #YaBastaFacebook and called on the tech giant to stop the barrage of Spanish-language disinformation and conspiracy theories that are proliferating on the platform. We also joined UltraViolet and Women’s March in calling on Congress to stop techsploitation by upending Big Tech’s hate-for-profit business model.
• Connecting journalists and communities: The News Voices team continued to work its magic in bringing community members and journalists together in Philadelphia, Colorado and New Jersey. And the New Jersey Civic Info Consortium — a groundbreaking organization conceived of and advocated for by Free Press Action — announced its first round of grant applications.
• All this comes on the heels of a year of remarkable accomplishments in the face of daunting challenges. We’ve captured it all in our newly released 2020 Annual Report: Fighting for Your Rights in a Year of Crisis.

This is just a sampling of what we’ve been up to and doesn’t include the hard work that happens behind the scenes to keep Free Press’ lights on and to make sure our team members are able to care for themselves, their families and communities during a pandemic and ongoing racial injustice.

Over the next 100 days, we’ll continue doing what we do best: challenging corporations, influencing policymakers, reimagining local news, raising public awareness and mobilizing millions to transform democracy and realize a just society. We invite you to fight alongside us to make it happen.

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