A View from the Field: Protecting Democracy

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.

• In September, a Free Press-led coalition launched Democracy Is … , an initiative that’s training journalists on how to cover extremism; helping members of the public identify and flag disinformation on social-media platforms; and providing other resources to influence media and technology platforms to better serve our communities and strengthen our democracy. Free Press kicked off the effort with “Democracy Is … a Call to Action.” During this digital rally, Nora Benavidez provided opening remarks and Jessica J. Gonzàlez took part in a panel discussion exploring the stakes facing communities this election cycle and the ways that media and tech companies must step up. Watch the conversation.
• As part of the Democracy Is … event series, Free Press and the Latino Media Collaborative co-hosted the panel discussion “Challenging Election Lies Targeting Latinos and Immigrants.” Jessica moderated the conversation, which illuminated how hate, lies and racism are targeting Latinos and immigrants in both social and mainstream media. Panelists discussed how organizations are confronting these efforts to manipulate, and how everyone can play a role in pushing back against false and discriminatory narratives. Watch the discussion.
• Vanessa Maria Graber took part in “Engaging Communities of Color with Your Election Coverage,” a panel discussion that Election SOS hosted. This was another entry in the Democracy Is .. event series. The conversation explored the distrust many people of color feel toward news outlets due to the media’s long history of harming their communities. Panelists offered guidance on ways newsrooms can better connect with and serve people of color. Among the takeaways: “Engage communities of color by focusing on people-centered reporting that highlights the human impact of policies and legislation.” Watch the conversation.
• Since 2021, the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium — which Free Press Action helped create — has awarded grants to some 30 organizations focused on diversifying journalism, improving government transparency, providing community-health news and better serving communities of color and immigrant communities. Vanessa Maria helped plan an event in September that New Jersey State Legislature Majority Leader Louis Greenwald hosted alongside the leadership of the consortium. Greenwald co-sponsored the legislation that created the nonprofit, and the gathering celebrated the $3 million the consortium received in the FY2025 budget. During the gathering, grantees discussed how they’re using their grants to fill information gaps in their communities and provide election-related civic journalism.
• Nora spoke at a roundtable briefing at the White House on tech equity and AI. She discussed the need for digital civil-rights protections, including data-minimization standards that limit the information companies can collect about us online. She called for elevating the voices of marginalized communities in conversations about tech innovation, AI and related topics. And she advocated for interdisciplinary solutions to the harms stemming from the scale and speed of AI’s proliferation.
• Nora spoke about safeguarding civil society and platform research during a panel discussion at the All Tech Is Human symposium.
• As the Senate Intelligence Committee prepared to question executives from Adobe, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft about their readiness to tackle electoral threats, Nora took part in a forum that raised potential questions for lawmakers to pose. Issue One and Tech Policy Press convened this virtual event.
• Diamond Hardiman and Venneikia Williams delivered a series of guest lectures to undergraduate and graduate journalism students at USC Annenberg to kick off a project Media 2070 has launched with the Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab. The project will research both harmful and reparative news narratives concerning Black life and identity in Los Angeles. This research will contribute to a multimedia archive, “From Riot to Repair: Community Archives on Media and Narrative Power.” 
• Diamond also helped lead the workshop “Weaving Community Threads” at the Online News Association Conference in Atlanta. The event explored ways in which journalists can use radical empathy, transparency and collaboration to better engage BIPOC, working-class and rural communities.
• Free Press Action supported the introduction of the Artificial Intelligence Civil Rights Act, which would help eliminate biases from AI tools. Co-CEO Craig Aaron spoke during a press conference about the bill alongside Sen. Ed Markey and civil-rights leaders. “Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering every corner of our lives — from access to education, health care and insurance to decisions made by the courts, police and immigration officials — with far too little public input or recourse when these systems cause real-world bias or harm,” Craig said. “We need to ensure that new tools and technologies aren’t used to exacerbate discrimination.” Read more about how the bill would stop AI discrimination.
• Cassie Owens gave a presentation on the history of racial bias in crime coverage for a workshop convened as part of the Spark Series in Philadelphia. Zealous and DayOneNotDayTwo co-hosted the event. Cassie was a co-instructor for a course at Villanova Law’s Clemency Clinic, where she taught on the same topic.