Website Essay

Essay on Freepress.net

In society today, it has become quite common to see dominance in different media categories. It is all too common for a single message to be sent through multiple portals that was rooted from one source.  It is imperative to resolve the issues in media ownership so that it allows for a more diverse flow of information and opinion onto the mass consumers in our society. Organizations such as Free Press work to correct issues such as these that are found in concentrated media ownership.

I chose to write my essay on freepress.net because the organization was simple and straightforward with its agenda and goal. Their introductory statement on their home page states: “ Free Press is a national, non partisan, non profit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications”. As I roamed through their informative website, it was evident that they were committed to doing just that.

The Free Press organization was founded by media scholars Robert W. McChesney and Josh Silver and launched in 2002. As media scholars, they felt the need to create an organization that worked to demand media reform by establishing better media policies than the ones that have been spoon fed to mass consumers. The organization is working to create a movement that will make media reform a political issue. The organization believes today’s media doesn’t truly serve the public interest rather a more bias reporting therefore it hinders the true democratic ideals of American society and leaves uninformed citizens.

One of the interesting aspects on this website was their “Get Involved” tab. Here in this tab, they have listed important information for their readers. Current campaigns, downloadable guides and tools that work to recruit the community, event listings of interests, an organizational directory of people looking to reform media in a certain locality and information on a national conference for media reform are all included.  One campaign that was being promoted was for net neutrality and the other for the strengthening of community journalism. Free Press does a great job to provide the tools, opportunity and place to use these same tools so that their goal to reform media is reached in all areas of the nation. They accommodate participants well and it is very impressive how organized they are to carry out this project nationwide.

One of the admiring qualities of the Free Press website was that it was reaching out to all kinds of readers as they got their message for media reform across. The website itself was very user friendly, organized and informative. As someone who is new to this movement and subject, I was able to easily follow along and instantly be familiarized with the issues at hand. Not only was I following along but I also felt inspired to partake in the campaigns and discussions. The organization does such a great job in following the news that they keep the websites constantly updated.

Free Press addresses problems across a broad range of media topics that they hope to reform. Topics such as the Internet, media ownership, journalism, public media, cable, FCC policies and others have been blogged about, discussed, debated, and made into an article for the intellectual stimulation of its readers. The common demand between all the topics that the organization has mentioned is the access to open media so that it allows for a more diversified environment and society. This in turn serves the Democratic process because it leaves citizens informed and lends the ability towards informed decision making and participation. The organization also demands public policies that will protect and support small noncommercial media so that a public access system can truly serve a community.

 In conclusion, after researching the Free Press website and spending time to learn about its goals and agenda, I have developed a deep appreciation for the work that this organization does towards the cause for media reform. This organization is so set on educating the public and encourages communities to be more independent. The website does a fantastic job to keep members in the loop of events and information that relate to the movement on a communal level as well as tightening it onto a national level. It is very simple to stay connected to the movement as they have contact information virtually on every page of their website as well as a fully comprised directory of organizations in the neighborhood.