Free Press and Current Join Semipublic's CPB Records Request
The two companies have co-signed a records request Semipublic and the State of Local News Project at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism sent to CPB last week
Last week, Semipublic, along with the State of Local News Project at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, sent a records request to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for specific station data. We believe the requested records, which are comprised of station finances and operational information, are vital not only to the public understanding of the public broadcasting industry but to the members of the industry itself. Our pledge was to make any data received from CPB open to the public, as we’ve made our collected FY23 data open to the public.
We’re pleased to announce that, shortly after sending our request to CPB, Current, the public media trade journal, co-signed our records request. We’re also pleased to announce that, earlier this morning, press freedom and First Amendment advocacy group Free Press also joined our request and sent a letter of support to CPB.
Here’s the letter Craig Aaron, President of Free Press, sent:
Here’s how you can help:
If you’re a reader of Semipublic: You are helping just by supporting this newsletter. Subscribe for free, if you haven’t already, or consider becoming a paid subscriber or buying us a coffee. Then, help spread the word about our records request by reposting on Substack or other social media sites.
If you’re a CPB employee: We are deeply committed to helping the public understand what’s happening right now in public media - whether it’s through Semipublic or any other organization that would benefit from the requested data - and believe strongly in the importance of our request. If you do too, help bring attention to our request within CPB.
If you’re a public media entity, news organization, or research group that shares Semipublic’s mission: Get in touch with us as soon as possible. We are gathering allies to help support our records request, like the State of Local News Project at Northwestern, Current, and Free Press, and need your help, too. You can email us directly at contact [at] semipublic.co.
You can learn more about the request here:
More updates to come soon, and thank you for your support.