Craig Aaron
Craig Aaron is a senior program director at Free Press, Craig Aaron is at the center of the growing debate over how to reform our nation’s media system and nurse an increasingly sick journalism industry back to health.
Aaron is a former In These Times managing editor and Public Citizen investigative reporter: He helped stage a Free Press summit on the future of journalism, the Internet and public media in the United States only days after the release of “Saving the News: Toward a National Journalism Strategy,” a "bold analysis of the future of the fourth estate" he co-wrote with Victor Pickard and Josh Stearns.[1]
Politics
When asked to describe his political orientation Aaron quoted socialist activist James Weinstein;[2]
- Jimmy Weinstein, the founder of In These Times, always answered that question: “Groucho Marxist.” I still like that.
- The more boring answer would be “progressive.” And I’m a registered Democrat so I can actually have a say in choosing my local leaders. I’m pragmatic but always optimistic.
National Leading From the Inside Out Alum
Craig Aaron, President & CEO, Free Press was a 2018 Rockwood Leadership Institute National Leading From the Inside Out Alum.[3]
'Restore the Fourth' Rally in D.C.
On July 4th, 2013, representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, joined "concerned citizens" in Washington, D.C., to demand the protection of Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The event is part of a nationwide movement called Restore the Fourth. Rallies will take place in 81 cities and towns across the country to voice concerns about recent revelations of domestic spying.
Location: McPherson Square, Washington, D.C. Time: Noon - 2 p.m.
Endorsed by: StopWatching.Us, Demand Progress, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Institute for Policy Studies, National Lawyers Guild, Get FISA Right, Washington Peace Center, Montgomery County Civil Rights Commission, Defending Dissent, Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR-MD.
Speakers: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY, recorded video); Governor Gary Johnson (L, recorded video); Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL, recorded video); Carla Howell, Libertarian Party President; Thomas Drake, former senior executive of the NSA and whistleblower; Craig Aaron, president and CEO of Free Press; Robert McCaw, CAIR Government Affairs Manager; representatives of CAIR-MD.[4]