Platform Accountability
A View from the Field: Fighting Hate & Prioritizing Care
A View from the Field is an ongoing feature that highlights the efforts of Free Press’ team of organizers and advocates.
Once a month, we provide updates from the field as staffers work alongside our amazing allies and activists to create a more just and equitable media system.
- Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights Nora Benavidez spoke at a congressional briefing about platform transparency and data privacy. Mozilla and the Center for Democracy & Technology hosted the event, where Rep. Lori Trahan (D–Massachusetts) served as the keynote speaker. CNN technology reporter Brian Fung joined Nora and other experts during the panel discussion.
- Nora debated UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh about hate speech and the First Amendment. The Federalist Society hosted this event, which was held at the Emory University School of Law.
- Vice President of Cultural Strategy Collette Watson, who also serves as the Media 2070 project director, attended the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England, where she delivered a presentation on the fight for media reparations. Other speakers included filmmaker Ava DuVernay, former Vice President Al Gore and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa.
- News Voices: Philadelphia Project Manager Tauhid Chappell and News Voices: Philadelphia Program Manager Cassie Owens led two virtual community workshops on mental health and harm reduction. These workshops grew out of the knowledge that coverage of crime and public safety can stigmatize, misrepresent and traumatize communities. The workshops brought together organizers and therapists to discuss what types of care and programming would best serve Philadelphia residents who have suffered the impacts of problematic and outright racist media coverage.
