Is Our Press Still Free? What Are Our Options?
May 5, 2025
In Case You Missed It!
What does it mean to be the “free press today? What are the roles of the media and journalists today? What is the role of journalists today to advance our democracy? What do we even mean by the media today? What are the different parts of the media ecosystem? Who can we trust? How has the segmentation of journalism impacted our democracy and how can we combat “advocacy journalism” from either side of the spectrum?
Can the media help people understand what’s going on and make well informed decisions if facts are not the basis for reporting? How do we as activists and advocates help protect a free media and journalists, and how do we work with the media today to cover our issues?
Laurie R. Glenn is founder, president and CEO of Thinkinc., a Chicago-based international strategic public affairs and political consulting firm specializing in social justice and policy issues. With more than 40 years of political consulting and public affairs experience, Ms. Glenn serves as a high-level advisor, working with leaders within nonprofit organizations, coalitions, foundations, cultural, business, corporate and civic organizations, to address key policy issues impacting a range of communities from the local to global level. She advises clients on strategic planning, partnerships/alliances, coalition building, communications, leadership development and organizational change to enhance the both the power of individual leadership and institutions to make systemic change.
Throughout her career, Ms. Glenn maintained a philosophy that the forces of the news media can, and should be, demystified and made more accessible. Determined to bring this philosophy to a broader audience of public relations and communications practitioners, Ms. Glenn developed and taught the Professional Media Relations course for Chicago’s Community Media Workshop, now known as Public Narrative. For more information please visit www.thinkincstrategy.com.
Sylvia Ewing, Vice President of Journalism and Media Engagement at Public Narrative. She leads initiatives to strengthen relationships between journalists, media outlets, and the communities they serve to support journalists and community voices in shaping narratives that drive social change. Founded in 1989, Public Narrative is a Chicago-based nonprofit that facilitates training, programming, and resource building focused on cultivating media literacy, uplifting community voices in media, and shifting narratives around public health, public safety.
A distinguished media professional, nonprofit leader, and community builder, Sylvia is recognized as a broadcaster, executive, and advocate for culture and community. She has worked for government agencies, arts organizations, public broadcast and print media outlets, and political campaigns. And is a poet. She is a current board director for the Chicago Headline Club Foundation, Illinois Humanities, and Kartemquin Films; on the advisory board for Chicago’s Press Forward initiative and the Center for the Performing Arts at Governor State University; and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the Communications Network.
Before Sylvia joined Public Narrative, worked in political campaigns and was Principal Director, Strategic Partnerships and Communication at Elevate, which works to expand use of clean energy.
Tracy Baim is executive director of Press Forward Chicago, a pooled fund for community journalism based at The Chicago Community Trust. Baim is co-founder and owner of Windy City Times. She is former publisher of the Chicago Reader newspaper. Baim has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Chicago Headline Club (2013) and the Chicago Journalists Association (2022). In 2014, she was inducted into the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Association for Women Journalists-Chicago Chapter Hall of Fame in 2018. She is also in the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame. She has won numerous LGBTQ community and journalism honors, including the Community Media Workshop’s Studs Terkel Award in 2005 and the Lambda Legal Bon Foster Award in 2023. Baim has written and/or edited 14 books, her newest a biography of Howard Brown Health.
