In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower warned the world of the “military-industrial complex” — an economic system that puts the war economy above all else, even the needs of a democracy....
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In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower warned the world of the “military-industrial complex” — an economic system that puts the war economy above all else, even the needs of a democracy....
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Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is a disaster that would endanger our democracy and give David and Larry Ellison — a MAGA-loving family of billionaires — even more control over what we see and hear.
SIGN to block the merger:
➡️ act.freepress.net/sign/block-p...
The threat is the point.
Free Press interviewed FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez who explained: "When a regulator publicly suggests that certain coverage could trigger scrutiny or consequences, people start to hesitate." -
Read more from @agomezfcc.bsky.social:
www.freepress.net/blog/qa-fcc-...
Big Media is so FCC'ed up.
Free Press' @timkarr.bsky.social explains how, in other words, big media self-censorship in 2026 is very real and all it takes is a threat from the Trump administration for major networks to buckle.
Read more: www.freepress.net/blog/fcc-equ...
Government agents are collecting unprecedented amounts of personal data with little-to-no oversight or accountability from Big Tech.
The ICE Out of Our Faces Act stops the use facial recognition and other biometric-surveillance technologies.
Learn more: pressingissues.org/ed-markey-wa...
February 2026: Free Press' Constitutional Rights & Free Speech Round Up
This month, the throughline was clear: infrastructure decisions are free speech decisions.
Here’s what we tracked 🧵
"The ICE Out of Our Faces Act does one simple thing: It stops Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection from using facial recognition and other biometric-surveillance technologies. Period." - @markey.senate.gov
16.02.2026 20:45 — 👍 22 🔁 12 💬 1 📌 1
Craig Aaron of @freepress.bsky.social: ‘Trump wants to control the news and his justice department has been largely purged of anyone who might ask too many questions of a deal like this’
Via @sulliview.bsky.social @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A View from the Field is an ongoing feature that highlights the efforts of Free Press' team of organizers and advocates as they work alongside our allies and activists to create a just and equitable media system.
Check out the first in the series for 2026:
www.freepress.net/blog/view-fi...
MA Senator @markey.senate.gov introduced the ICE Out of Our Faces Act, legislation that would ban ICE and CBP from using or acquiring biometric-surveillance tech and to allow individuals to sue for violations.
Learn more: https://pressingissues.org/ed-markey-wants-ice-out-of-your-face/
"If quality local journalism is a public good — and it is — then we're going to have to support it with public dollars."
From this edition of Pressing Issues by Free Press co-CEO @notaaroncraig.bsky.social:
https://pressingissues.org/what-cicero-can-teach-us-about-making-better-media-policy/
Courts probably shouldn't rely on the government to understand the law and precedent, at least not this government.
Via @techdirt.com: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/26/the-doj-forgot-to-mention-the-law-restricting-searches-of-journalists-the-judge-is-not-happy/
We know what it means if a family of pliant billionaires gets even more control: Fired journalists, important stories spiked, and empty propaganda replacing the news.
"The idea that Paramount should be allowed to control CBS and CNN should be unthinkable." - @notaaroncraig.bsky.social via @wsj.com
"This deal endangers our democracy by giving a family of pliant billionaires even more control of vast swaths of our news coverage, TV stations and movie studios." - @notaaroncraig.bsky.social via @poynterinstitute.bsky.social
27.02.2026 15:37 — 👍 10 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 3
Trump’s billionaire allies will now own CNN, Fox News, CBS, WaPo, WSJ and NY Post — plus 185+ local tv stations and news in 100 markets.
They also control X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, TikTok, Truth and Twitch.
This is all by design to manipulate and surveil us.
Pay attention.
"Inside CNN, alarm bells went off as staffers began to panic over the suddenly very real prospect that they could be working for Bari Weiss before the end of the year," reports @oliverdarcy.bsky.social.
"'We are doomed,' one staffer candidly said. 'We are f**ked,' said another."
The new Ellison-controlled media combine will check the boxes for all three types of capture: capitalistic, oligarchic, and authoritarian.
lpeproject.org/blog/the-ame...
Media consolidation is bad for democracy.
A combined Netflix-WBD would have been bad.
A combined Paramount/Skydance-WBD is even worse given Ellison's pattern of offering to censor viewpoints that Trump doesn't like in exchange for regulatory favors.
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/w...
Senator Mike Lee -- totally sober & serious antitrust devotee that he is 🙃 -- had called a hearing in his subcommittee next week to discuss the Netflix bid again. So now, the only logical play is to do what his ranking member @booker.senate.gov called for and have a Paramount hearing, right? Right?
27.02.2026 03:34 — 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
BREAKING: WBD decided to abandon plans to sell to Netflix in favor of a Paramount Skydance bid.
"The Ellisons have promised Trump that they'll make sweeping changes to CNN, and we know what the means: firing journalists and replacing news with authoritarian propaganda." - @notaaroncraig.bsky.social
Not so far from over, after all.
Block this deal!
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/w...
Student journalists across the country show resilience every single day. But most still aren't afforded their full First Amendment press freedom rights.
Free Press is proud to partner with the @splc.org for #StudentPressFreedom to stand for student journalists.
Learn more: studentpressfreedom.org
"An under-the-radar, Trump-approved deal could create a broadcasting behemoth that controls local news stations across more than 40 states." - @jonallsop.bsky.social
@notaaroncraig.bsky.social with @newyorker.com on the Nexstar-Tegna merger that would increase its reach to double Congress' limit:
The FCC must NOT approve a merger between Nexstar and Tegna.
Tell the FCC to uphold the mandate to promote diversity, localism and competition in broadcasting. Do not approve this disastrous — and unlawful — merger.
ADD your name to the petition:
In an interview with Free Press' Pressing Issues, @markey.senate.gov explained why restricting this technology and ending unlawful government surveillance is so important:
Read more: pressingissues.org/ed-markey-wa...
The ICE Out of Our Faces Act from @markey.senate.gov does one simple thing: Stops Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection from using facial recognition and other biometric-surveillance technologies.
Period.
Learn more: www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-r...
Surveillance tech is discriminatory by design.
"ICE & CBP use tools to track & intimidate communities — specifically Black & Brown communities —under the guise of public safety. But it’s pretty clear this isn’t about public safety at all." - @markey.senate.gov
➡️ pressingissues.org/ed-markey-wa...
With face-scanning technology and other forms of biometric surveillance, government agents are collecting unprecedented amounts of personal data on people in the United States with little-to-no oversight or accountability from Big Tech.
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey is trying to stop them.
A 🧵 >
Spoke with @jonallsop.bsky.social @newyorker.com about the politics of the Nexstar-Tegna merger -- yes, a "media merger you should actually care about" -- and the dangers for local journalism and democracy as the FCC's Brendan Carr performs for Donald Trump, America's most dangerous channel surfer.
26.02.2026 13:43 — 👍 9 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 1
Once independent agencies, Trump appointees have transformed the FTC and FCC into instruments of ideological enforcement.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/opinion/fcc-ftc-free-speech-trump.html
