Freedom of the Press Foundation is proud to announce our newest president of our board of directors, digital rights activist Rainey Reitman. Rainey was a co-founder of Freedom of the Press Foundation and has served on our board for 10 years. Her deep knowledge of online advocacy, coalition building and civil liberties has helped make Freedom of the Press Foundation a stronger organization.
Rainey worked for the Electronic Frontier Foundation for 11 years, first as its activism director and then as its chief program officer. Rainey also co-founded and served for six years as a steering committee member of the Chelsea Manning Support Network. She currently serves as a board member for the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web.
FPF board of directors unanimously voted on Rainey as its next president last week, after she was nominated for the role by FPF’s prior president Edward Snowden, who continues to serve on the board.
“Journalists today face unjust prosecutions, public attacks and government surveillance for doing their jobs. Freedom of the Press Foundation’s vital mission to defend the rights of journalists is as necessary today as the day we founded it ten years ago,” Rainey Reitman said. “Edward Snowden has been a wonderful leader for our board and a personal inspiration. I’m honored to follow in his footsteps as president and continue his work of creating a fearless, impactful organization.”
Edward joined the board of FPF in 2014 and has served as president since 2016. During his tenure as president, Edward has acted as a tireless advocate for press freedom and worked to raise awareness of the organization’s important work. He has also helped highlight the dangers of using the Espionage Act to silence whistleblowers and journalists, as he himself is under the ongoing threat of prosecution for documents he leaked showing surveillance abuses by the NSA. Edward has offered guidance and advice to FPF’s technical projects, including our ongoing development of SecureDrop, which helps sources securely and anonymously transfer documents to journalists. FPF has more than doubled in size during his time as our board president.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve accomplished during my time as FPF board president and am looking forward to the heights we’ll reach under Rainey Reitman’s leadership,” Edward Snowden said. “There’s no one better to succeed me than Rainey. I’ve worked with her for a long time, and she is one of the most principled and tireless advocates for free speech and privacy online that I know.”
In addition to Edward and Rainey, FPF’s board of directors includes whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery, renowned actor and activist John Cusack and executive director Trevor Timm.
FPF protects and defends public interest journalism in the 21st century. We build SecureDrop, the world’s leading whistleblower submission system, used by over 80 news outlets worldwide. We have trained thousands of journalists to better protect their sources using digital security. And we run the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the news website and database that documents every press freedom violation in the United States. You can help us fund all this work by joining our membership program here.
