Dear John,

We originally expected to focus our message today on a long overdue congressional hearing that had been scheduled for tomorrow. It was poised to explore insider trading, and reform proposals to restrict Members of Congress and protect the public from their conflicts of interest.

Unfortunately, committee chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) was recently diagnosed with COVID, forcing a delay in the hearing schedule. We wish Rep. Lofgren a speedy and comfortable recovery.

As it happens, we have another hearing on which we’re also focused this week. It remains on track for this Thursday, St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. Rather than a congressional hearing in Washington exploring conflicts of interest among policymakers, this will be a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California exploring ethical failures by journalists.

RSVP to join us this Thursday via zoom! Our case will be heard by the court shortly after 1:30pm PT.

I’ve spent two years working to hold accountable media sources for publishing election disinformation fabricated to mislead voters. Many falsely think of disinformation as exclusively a right-wing strategy, failing to recognize how voices from the corporate center to the “socialist” Left have actively employed it to promote their careers at the cost of election integrity.

That’s why we took the extraordinary step of filing a federal lawsuit against the San Francisco Chronicle. The publication of racist election disinformation was bad enough.

Suppressing whistleblowers including women of color, hiding key facts from the public, repeating racist accusations even after they have publicly debunked, and then failing entirely to ever correct false stories are all ongoing failures by local reporters with continuing implications for election integrity.

We’re in federal court to expose the real story: the Democratic Party’s use of racism as an election strategy, and the disappointing complicity of the press establishment. They reveal further layers of institutional corruption insulating the individual corruption of a powerful oligarch, and the corporate political party that she leads in Congress.

This Thursday, (on St. Patrick’s Day) we face a critical court hearing before U.S. District Judge Edward Chen that could decide the outcome of our case. The hearing is open to the public via zoom, and will take place sometime shortly after 1:30pm PT.

We invite you to join us then, and to join us again immediately after the hearing concludes at a post-hearing debrief via zoom with our campaign counsel, Gautam Dutta.

Thank you for standing with me, press ethics, and the right of the public to expect accurate information from news sources. Democracy relies on ethical journalism, and I’m grateful for your help defending that principle from the failures of weaponized corporate news outlets.

See you Thursday!

Shahid

PS – Feel free to review our papers that the judge will be examining if you’re curious to learn more about our legal position.

PPS – Know any journalists who write about press ethics, election integrity, corruption, disinformation, or racism & white supremacy? We’d like very much to invite them to attend! Please reply to this email to request a media advisory that we would be thrilled for you to share.