A View from the Field: Speaking at the White House

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.

• Nora Benavidez spoke at the White House at an event the Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force hosted. The event explored a range of topics, including the risks that large-scale personal-data collection pose and the need to balance the harms of social media with the value of building online communities.
• Nora also spoke at the event “Navigating the Media Landscape: Implications for Latinas,” which examined media representation, manipulation and the 2020 election. The conversation, which the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute hosted, also delved into how the weaponization of social media threatens democracy.
• Cassie Owens presented at the Radio Television Digital News Association’s Crime Coverage Summit. She discussed race, the criminal-legal system and the media during a discussion with veteran Associated Press reporter Gary Fields. “While we as journalists often think of our work as neutral,” Cassie said, “the evidence is showing that the impacts on the communities and on the people in the stories are not actually neutral.” Watch the video of the conversation.
• Cassie designed and hosted a hybrid kickoff event to launch the Public Safety Coverage Cohort’s work to transform crime coverage in Philadelphia. Cohort members shared stories about what’s inspired them to want to reimagine crime reporting, which has historically harmed communities of color and made people less safe.
• Diamond Hardiman, Joseph Torres and Venneikia Williams teamed up with Nyasia Almestica and Tianna Mañón of Mañón Media to organize and take part in Media 2070’s first press briefing of the year. The discussion explored ways to build systems that repair harm in journalism. Watch the briefing.
• Alex Frandsen took part in a press conference in Wisconsin that introduced three bills designed to promote local news and civic information. “With an average of two local newspapers across the country shutting down every single week, the destruction of local news is real and ongoing,” Alex said. “ … The commercial marketplace can no longer support local-news production on its own. We desperately need public policies that can chart a new path forward, including those that provide local, state and federal funding for news outlets.”