PRESS FREEDOM UNDER ASSAULT: PRESERVING OUR DEMOCRACY

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ClassACT HR73 will present an on-line forum Press Freedom under Assault: Preserving our Democracy. Sylvester Monroe, Senior Fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy will moderate a panel with Geoffrey Cowan, University Professor of Communication at USC and a distinguished First Amendment attorney; Susan Goldberg, the president and CEO of GBH, the largest producer of PBS content and a major provider of NPR programming; and Kevin Merida, the former executive editor of the Los Angeles Times and the former managing editor of the Washington Post.

Monroe, who reported and edited for Newsweek, Time and served in senior editorial positions at the Washington Post and LA Times and the panelists will examine the unprecedented nature of current attacks on the media. "A free and independent press is a cornerstone of democracy," says Monroe. "It is imperative that everyone works to defend it."

The panel will trace how the United States arrived at a point where the government attempts to censor the language of respected media and press outlets, and the Department of Justice investigates news organizations for their "diversity, equity and inclusion" policies. The panel will also discuss efforts to cut off federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, as well as the rapid decline of local newspapers throughout the country, whose absence leaves fertile ground for sources of misinformation to take root.

The forum will examine whether a fundamental shift in the relationship between journalism and politics is occurring, one that signals a movement toward authoritarianism.

Link to register for the free on-line forum: https://classacthr73.org/event-6190244 

ClassACT (Achieving Change Together) HR73 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of founded by members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1973, with a goal to bring together classmates to address important local, national, and international problems by creating and supporting positive social change.

For additional information on Press Freedom under Assault: Preserving our Democracy and panelist bios, click here: https://classacthr73.org/Press-Freedom-under-Assault-Preserving-Our-Democracy.

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SOURCE ClassACT HR73