A new group, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which seemed to come out of nowhere, has hit the ground running—within a day of its launching, just yesterday. It’s already named the first four organizations to gain fundings (WikiLeaks and three others), drawn wide coverage (from The New York Times to Forbes) and proved very active on Twitter (@FreedomOfPress).
Its stated purpose is to help groups survive government tactics to isolate or suppress them or limit their funds. The board includes Glenn Greenwald, Xeni Jardin, Daniel Ellsberg, actor John Cusack, John Philip Barlow, Laura Poitras. Greenwald explains that they seek to “ensure that truly independent journalistic outlets—devoted to holding the US government and other powerful factions accountable with transparency and real adversarial journalism—are supported to the fullest extent possible.”