(Courtesy of Tim Gleason)
Tim Gleason, former dean of the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communications, spoke as a guest for the League of Women Voters of Lane County’s ongoing speaker series on April 28, addressing threats to freedom of the press.
Gleason served as the dean of the SOJC for 16 years, from 1997 to 2013, and retired in 2021 as a professor emeritus of journalism. He also served on the board of directors for the Open Oregon board of directors for 30 years, the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association for 15 years and the Oregon Association of Broadcasters for 11 years. Recently, he served as an informal advisor to the development of Lookout Eugene-Springfield.
The League of Women Voters of Lane County is a local nonprofit organization that focuses on empowering women to defend democracy and inform voters about local and national governments.
October through April, the LWVLC hosts meetings with a guest speaker who talks about their role and experience in protecting democracy. Gleason spoke on April 28, focusing on challenges to freedom of the press.
“Freedom of expression continues to be the most attacked aspect of democracy, worsening in 45 countries in 2025,” Gleason said. “The U.S. lost its long-term status as a liberal democracy for the first time in 50 years. And this is based on a variety of methods having to do with freedom of the press and other individual rights, and especially voting rights in all countries.”
When it comes to the legal side of the practice of freedom of the press, Gleason emphasizes two points highlighted by the First Amendment that grant protections to journalists: prior restraint and viewpoint discrimination.
Despite these protections written into the Constitution, Gleason spoke about the federal government’s slow encroaching on recognized protections. Specifically, he spoke about his concerns about the possible overturning of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, a 1964 Supreme Court ruling that created the standard of actual malice, making it harder for public officials to win libel suits.
“What we’re seeing at the Supreme Court, (is) Justices Thomas and Gorsuch have written dissents in which they have essentially suggested that we ought to get rid of New York versus Sullivan, (as it) provides too much protection for freedom of the press,” Gleason said.
Gleason provided examples of the recent consolidation of media organizations, such as the purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance, headed by David Ellison and his family, who are known to be close with President Donald Trump. Consolidations like these decrease boundaries and accountability between local journalism and its audiences, he said.
“The five largest local newspaper chains own over 15% of the country’s dailies and weeklies,” Gleason said.
Locally, Gleason emphasizes that community involvement and support of local journalists can help the organizations to keep going, citing the support behind the Eugene Weekly after its former business manager was found guilty of embezzling funds.
The paper was forced to end its print distribution and lay off all 10 staff members. Eugene residents and other interested parties donated over $100,000 to continue print distribution and support the staff.
Gleason said, “How do we build that kind of understanding in our communities that these are important local public interest resources that we have to have? And how do we make it successful?”
When it comes to burgeoning student journalists at the SOJC, Gleason believes UO stands out compared to national trends.
“Students are excited, they want to do creative work, they want to do investigative reporting, they want to go out and tell stories … So we’re finding in the school of journalism that actually, enrollment is up, and in fact they’re challenged with trying to handle (more students),” Gleason said. “Now, that’s not true nationally, but here we have been able to continue to attract really good, exciting students who do work that sometimes really drops those jaws.”
To protect press freedom and prevent the federal government from increasing challenges to First Amendment rights, Gleason proposed one solution.
“What can we do? We can go out and vote,” Gleason said.
