Type of Activity: Project
Grantee: Free Press Action Fund
Amount: $975,000 in 2023 over three years
What is Free Press Action Fund?
Free Press Action is a nonpartisan 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that works to create an equitable, just and reparative media system that protects the rights of everyone to connect and communicate. They believe that social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what’s actually happening in their communities.
Free Press Action works to stop hate and disinformation online, creating sustainable, publicly supported models that provide news and information to underserved communities and redress historical inequities; and ensure affordable, reliable internet access for all, free from discrimination and surveillance.
Why do we think this organization is important?
Free Press Action seeks to change the media to transform democracy to realize a just society. It pushes companies to institute protective mechanisms to tamp down on anti-democratic lies and propaganda during election cycles, remove false content, and reduce the spread of bigotry and racialized disinformation. It proposes and advocates for federal and state policy solutions and new models that would sustain, reform and reimagine journalism and the U.S. public media system, and is working to ensure that the government’s broadband infrastructure investments are structured in federal programs so that the money reaches the members of the public who need it most.
How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Free Press Action Fund?
In 2023, Democracy Fund Voice approved a three-year grant of $975,000 to Free Press Action Fund.
In 2022, Democracy Fund approved a one-year general operating support grant of $400,000 to Free Press Action Fund.
In 2020, Democracy Fund Voice approved a general operating support grant of $200,000 to Free Press Action Fund. In 2021, an amendment was approved to increase the amount of the grant by $400,000, for a total of $600,000.