Seth Stern

Chief of Advocacy

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Seth Stern is the chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF). Seth and FPF’s advocacy team work in collaboration with everyone from independent bloggers and incarcerated journalists to major national news outlets and civil liberties organizations to promote laws and policies that allow public-interest journalism to thrive. Seth’s articles about press freedom have been published by outlets like The Guardian, The Intercept, Rolling Stone and Columbia Journalism Review, as well as local newspapers in his hometown of Chicago and around the country. Before joining FPF, Seth practiced media and First Amendment law for 13 years.

Participating Sessions

Rights from the Ground Up

The rights journalists exercise — to film in public, to request government records, to refuse to identify sources — belong to every citizen. But unlike professional journalists, whose rights are defended by the in-house counsel, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and a network of other press freedom organizations, ordinary citizens face the consequences of exercising those rights largely alone. As government conduct...