Were it not for emails requesting donations from The Center for Investigative Reporting and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, I wouldn’t have known today was World Press Freedom Day. I’ve been donating money to these organizations for years because I value and admire their work. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of a great deal of the mainstream press.

Some will disagree but I believe it fair to argue that many in the mainstream press used their freedom to aid and abet the return of Donald Trump to the White House by consistently drawing false equivalences between him and Kamala Harris, and by normalizing and sane-washing his statements prior to the election when they were anything but. In many ways, the biggest organs of the mainstream press continue the work of normalizing the abnormal whether it comes to continuing flurry of executive orders from the White House or the work of DOGE to infiltrate government and non-government entities alike to gain access to everyone’s private data.

For in-depth reporting on what’s happening in the Nation’s Capital (effectively my backyard since I live in a Maryland suburb), I must depend on publications like Wired, ProPublica, and other independent media sources instead of The Washington Post. Independent journalists like Marcy Wheeler (of Emptywheel), collectives like Flaming Hydra, and others are doing the vital work of actually informing the public in this moment. So on this World Press Freedom Day, if you’re not already doing so, donate and/or subscribe to an independent media organization using their press freedom for good–and share their work.