Friend,

The first presidential debates kick off this week and we’re ready to make our demands of the next administration.

Click here to read and endorse Right to Connect, our 2020 media-and-tech platform.

During Donald Trump’s time in office, the White House and its willing accomplices in Congress have launched a devastating series of attacks on democratic values, especially targeting people of color, poor people, immigrants, refugees, women and the LGBTQ+ community. This administration has damaged and dismantled key parts of our communications infrastructure and demeaned our press corps.

The communities Trump has alternately targeted and neglected are the same ones that are exploited by corporate giants in the cable, wireless, internet, tech and media industries.

These practices cannot continue.

We have a vision and a plan to achieve a just and equitable future for media and technology. Click here to read and endorse our Right to Connect platform.

What is the platform asking candidates to do?

1. Restore strong Net Neutrality protections, the bedrock of digital civil rights.
2. Close the digital divide and make internet access universally affordable.
3. Foster diverse local media — not bigger broadcasting conglomerates.
4. Learn from the inadequate response to hurricane crises in Puerto Rico and commit to building resilient infrastructure.
5. Oppose harmful mergers and monopolies.
6. Ensure affordable and accessible communications for incarcerated people and their loved ones.
7. Acknowledge that our media system is built on a history of discrimination.
8. End unwarranted government surveillance over communications networks.
9. Enact policies to protect digital privacy.
10. Defend journalists and expand noncommercial media to promote a thriving democracy.

Click here to read and endorse the full platform.

This work represents years of Free Press Action research and analysis while also centering the lived experiences of people representing a beautiful array of races, genders, ethnicities, religions, economic backgrounds and places of origin.

We all deserve a voice. We all have a right to safely connect. And in this era, that’s more important than ever.

Thanks for all that you do—

Lucia, Collette, Dana and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net

P.S. With so many basic human rights under threat, we need presidential contenders to stand up for vulnerable communities. We have a vision and concrete steps that need to be taken to achieve a just and equitable future: Click here to read and endorse our 2020 platform.