Media Activism & Independent Media News

On May 11, a procession was organized in San Francisco to mark the two years since Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli military sniper. There still has been no justice for Shireen, and this impunity has led to an unprecedented attack on journalists. An estimated 140 journalists and media workers have been killed in Palestine since October 7, with more arrested, injured, and missing.

On January 24, SFPD served a search warrant on Indybay, seeking identifying information about the author of a communiqué. The warrant included a non-disclosure order. After pushback from Electronic Frontier Foundation attorneys, SFPD agreed to take no further action on the warrant. Indybay and EFF then filed a motion to quash the warrant and vacate the gag order. On March 7, the gag order was vacated and the warrant was confirmed void.

The Western States Petroleum Association and big oil companies peddle their influence through a variety of means, from campaign spending and lobbying legislators to creating astroturf groups and sponsoring business-friendly journalistic events. Numerous media events are paid for by oil dollars, earning the companies favorable mentions by journalistic organizations. Meanwhile, a total of 897 oil drilling permits have been approved thus far in 2023.

On October 27, Elon Musk purchased the social media company Twitter for $44 billion. He proceeded to gut infrastructure and slash workers, including unionized janitorial staff. Musk welcomed back avowed neo-Nazis while banning leftist accounts and critical journalists. A series of protests have been held at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. A huge mural was painted on the street: "No Free Speech or Democracy with Oligarchy."

Even though KPFA was not a party in the matter, US Marshals seized $305,000 of KPFA’s cash reserves to pay for a monetary judgment against the Pacifica Foundation, its parent organization. The asset seizure resulted from a defamation lawsuit filed by John Vernile, former director of Pacifica, against programmers of WBAI in New York. Pacifica lawyers filed an appeal against the judgement, but KPFA is now facing layoffs and a massive budget shortfall.

International Human Rights Day was marked on December 10 by a diverse protest at San Francisco's Federal Building, calling out worldwide crimes against humanity. Countries and policies targeted were the US-supported Saudi war in Yemen, fascists in Myanmar, Israeli colonization of Palestine, attacks against the free press, police brutality, and the US Supreme Court's attack on women. Protesters later marched to a second rally at Powell and Market Streets.

On October 17, a caravan of 20 autos parked in front of Mark Zuckerberg's Palo Alto home so protesters could honk loudly and deliver a pink slip to the Facebook CEO while chanting, "Mark, You’re Fired!" The protest came on the heals of whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. Haugen, a former Facebook employee, told senators the social media giant's products "harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy."