Craig Aaron

ICE Detains Another Journalist Attorneys and allies push to free Nashville’s Estefany María Rodríguez Florez

ICE is detaining another journalists. For latest Pressing Issues, @juliorvarela.com talked to the attorneys for Nashville's Estefany María Rodríguez Florez and the press-freedom advocates pushing for her immediate release.

pressingissues.org/ice-detains-...

Coalition of 41 Press-Freedom Groups Calls for Immediate Release of Nashville-Based Journalist Arrested by ICE A coalition of 41 press-freedom groups demanded that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately release journalist Estefany Rodriguez.

We @freepress.bsky.social worked with 40 other press freedom, human rights groups condemning ICE arrest & detention of Estefany Rodriguez. Read our coalition statement: www.freepress.net/news/coaliti...

Join us THIS THURSDAY at 6PM ET | 3PM PT for the LIVE launch of NEW report.

We'll expose the Tech Oligarchs’ agenda with experts:
💥 Janine Jackson at @fairmediawatch.bsky.social
💥 Alicia Bell at @borealisphil.bsky.social
💥 Joe Torres at @freepress.bsky.social
bit.ly/mediacapturelaunch

"'The Democratic party needs abandon identity politics' is an elaborate stage play wherein 'real Americans' become caricatures ... and the only acceptable policy solution involves abandoning key principles and, always and relentlessly, shifting policy proposals further to the right."

Opinion: How Wisconsin can slap down efforts to silence speech Lawmakers have a chance to shield Wisconsinites from meritless defamation claims designed to drain time and resources.

Wisconsin friends: Important bill moving in the state Senate that could shield reporters and private citizens from bogus lawsuits designed to silence and punish them.

wisconsinwatch.org/2026/03/wisc...

Trump bought Netflix and Warner Bros bonds at height of bidding war with Paramount U.S. President Donald Trump bought more than $1.1 million of Netflix bonds over the last three months as the streaming giant unsuccessfully fought Paramount Skydance to ​buy Warner Bros Discovery , ac...

Trump bought Netflix and Warner Bros bonds at height of bidding war with Paramount
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

As communities fight to slow and even stop the data center construction frenzy, the same companies that trooped to the White House this week with a promise to do better are fighting back at every step. Read @ruddock.bsky.social on the larger costs of data centers that we need to be talking about.

States Prepare Challenge to Major Broadcast TV Deal A group of states plans to sue over Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna combination if it gets FCC approval

"The states, which include California, Colorado and New York, would sue on antitrust grounds, believing the deal would result in too much concentration in some local TV markets."

Free Press Condemns ICE Arrest of Colombian Journalist Seeking Political Asylum The Nashville reporter’s detention by federal immigration officials poses a grave threat to press freedom and the public’s right to know.

Nashville reporter's detention by federal immigration officials poses grave threat to press freedom and the public’s right to know. A thread on Estefany Rodriguez: www.freepress.net/news/free-pr...

Free Press Condemns ICE Arrest of Colombian Journalist Seeking Political Asylum Nashville reporter’s detention by federal immigration officials poses grave threat to press freedom and the public’s right to know

"Estefany Rodriguez is the latest to be caught up in this government-led campaign of censorship and control. She must be released from detention immediately.” -- @attorneynora.bsky.social

www.freepress.net/news/free-pr...

Biased and Bogus Sources Are Powering AI I was promised Rosie from The Jetsons, but all I got was this half-baked AI overview

It's @jgo4justice.bsky.social takeover week at Pressing Issues! Here's her latest on AI bias and the fact-free, right-wing sites feeding it. pressingissues.org/biased-and-b...

ICE detains reporter Estefany Rodríguez in Nashville - Nashville Banner Reporter Estefany Rodríguez, detained by ICE with no arrest warrant, may face deportation. Her attorneys seek immediate review of the legality of her case.

ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there.

They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.

Bad Internet Bills All of the bad internet bills. One website.

🚨URGENT ACTION ALERT! 🚨

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is holding a hearing today to advance a frankenstein package of "kids safety" bills that are trojan horses for censorship and surveillance.

Follow @fightforthefuture.org for updates.

Use BadInternetBills.com to email & call yr reps

The Terrifying Tentacles of Paramount’s Media Empire The Ellisons are building a multicorporate network of data mining, surveillance, news, and entertainment. What could possibly go wrong?

This merger pushes America's fragile news ecosystem further towards right-wing propaganda.

"Our democracy is endangered by giving a family of pliant billionaires even more control of our news coverage, TV stations, and movie studios." - @notaaroncraig.bsky.social via @the-ringer.bsky.social

The Terrifying Tentacles of Paramount’s Media Empire The Ellisons are building a multicorporate network of data mining, surveillance, news, and entertainment. What could possibly go wrong?

“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,” said Craig Aaron, the co-CEO of the watchdog group Free Press.

www.theringer.com/2026/03/03/m...

Media Mission Accomplished? The coverage of yet another senseless war will make it even harder to access factual information

“As we enter yet another war where too many innocent lives have already been lost, we’re no closer to having a media system that holds the powerful to account. But holding the line on further media consolidation is a critical step toward building one.”

New Pressing Issues!
@jgo4justice.bsky.social

Trump Administration, in Reversal, Tries to Continue Fight Against Law Firms

Erratic attacks on law firms is emblematic of the chaotic, relentless tactics Trump uses to keep every sector on their back foot. This defensiveness works -- it distracts us from yesterday's news & prevents coordinated, proactive resistance. But don't be fooled. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/u...

CBP Tapped Into the Online Advertising Ecosystem To Track Peoples’ Movements An internal DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows for the first time CBP used location data sourced from the online advertising industry to track phone locations. ICE has bought access to similar t...

New from 404 Media: CBP tapped into the online advertising ecosystem to track peoples' movements, according to an internal DHS document. Shows for the first time DHS tracked phones via process for putting ads in ordinary apps—video games, fitness apps, many more www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-i...

Paramount’s Debt Downgraded to Junk Following Warner Bros. Purchase Deal Fitch Ratings downgraded Paramount Skydance Corp.’s corporate and long-term borrower ratings to junk following the media company’s agreement to buy larger rival Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., a deal tha...

Seems fine!

“What appears to be the defining conflict of Trump’s presidency thus far is unfolding largely outside the sight of Western journalists.”

An Illegal, Unjustified War Underscores Danger of Media Consolidation We need diverse, critical news coverage more than ever

Jennifer Rubin @contrariannews.org connecting some important dots

contrarian.substack.com/p/an-illegal...

On the Media The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear.

“Media capture,” is a phrase scholars have been using to describe the phenomena of public interests losing possession of the press to political and corporate players. @victorpickard.bsky.social on why the American system was set up to be snatched away from the start lnk.to/onthemedia/b...

Trump just got much closer to bringing CNN to heel | Margaret Sullivan With David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance poised to buy Warner Bros Discovery, the president is tightening his grip on the US media

“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.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What Cicero Can Teach Us About Making Better Media Policy And why we keep asking the wrong questions

"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/

Must Stand TV

What's missing? The public. Decisions about whether AI can surveil American citizens or autonomously deploy lethal force are being settled in a contract dispute. No Congress. No democratic deliberation. No accountability. We've outsourced questions about the use of force to a corporate negotiation.

Public Media’s Promise Was Never the Problem This is the moment to find a better solution. But the winning coalition must be as broad and as honest as the problem is large.

Excellent piece on the unmet – but still necessary – promises of public media.

“WE’VE BEEN TOLD TO AIM OUR REPORTING AT A PARTICULAR PART OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM.”

Public Media’s Promise Was Never the Problem This is the moment to find a better solution. But the winning coalition must be as broad and as honest as the problem is large.

New Pressing Issues by @juliorvarela.com on the promise of public media and how to finally realize it.

“The coalition has to be as broad and as honest as the problem is large.”

pressingissues.org/public-media...

PSkyBros. would own ALL these cable channels. Barely fits in the screenshot.