A View from the Field: Highlighting Election Disinformation

A View from the Field is an ongoing feature that highlights the efforts of Free Press’ team of organizers and advocates.

We provide regular updates from the field as staffers work alongside our amazing allies and activists to create a just and equitable media system.

• Free Press Action Co-CEO Jessica J. Gonzàlez joined Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Alex Padilla for a Capitol Hill briefing to highlight the crisis of election disinformation in non-English languages — and to issue an urgent call for social-media platforms to beef up content moderation across all languages. Check out this blog post to learn more and watch Sen. Luján's video of the event.
• Vanessa Maria Graber moderated a two-part panel discussion on environmental journalism that Free Press, the Center for Cooperative Media and the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters hosted. Participants heard from environmental-justice organizers and journalists about water and air-quality issues, flooding, natural disasters and how environmental racism impacts the health of New Jerseyans. Panelists shared information about potential policy solutions and discussed how journalists can be a force for good amid these challenges. Watch the panel discussion.
• Vanessa Maria also co-facilitated a presentation at SRCCON: “Civic Media and Latinx Audiences: How to Reach Latinxs and Meet Their Civic Media Information Needs.” She shared research Free Press released on daily Spanish speakers’ attitudes about media and technology in an election year. These findings show that Spanish speakers in the United States are even more likely than others to feel they do not have enough independent news sources to make informed voting decisions. Vanessa Maria also discussed strategies to engage Latinx audiences and authentically represent the Latinx experience in media.
• Nora Benavidez spoke at an event for the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas about platform accountability and the future of content moderation.