''The Washington Free Press'' was a biweekly radical

underground newspaper The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rece ...

published in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, beginning in 1966, when it was founded by representatives of the five colleges in Washington as a

community paper Community paper is a term used by publishers, advertisers and readers to describe a range of publications that share a common service to their local community and commerce. Their predominant medium being newsprint, often free and published at regu ...

for local Movement people. It was an early member of the

Underground Press Syndicate The Underground Press Syndicate (UPS), later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate (APS), was a network of countercultural newspapers and magazines that operated from 1966 into the late 1970s. As it evolved, the Underground Press Syndicate crea ...

. Starting in December, 1967 they shared a three-story house in northwest Washington with the

Liberation News Service Liberation News Service (LNS) was a New Left, anti-war underground press news agency that distributed news bulletins and photographs to hundreds of subscribing underground, alternative and radical newspapers from 1967 to 1981. Considered the "Asso ...

, the Washington Draft Resistance Union, and a local chapter of the anti-draft group Resistance. A print shop was in the basement, and other activist groups used the space and got their mail there. The paper's original founders and editors included Michael Grossman, Arthur Grosman and former

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

computer programmer

William Blum William Henry Blum (; March 6, 1933 – December 9, 2018) was an American author and journalist and a critic of United States foreign policy. Early life Blum was born at Beth Moses Hospital (now part of Maimonides Medical Center) in Brooklyn, ...

, but the staff went through many changes and by 1969 nobody on the paper was even acquainted with any of the original founders. The paper opposed the war in Vietnam and tended to follow the politics of SDS. ''Washington Free Press'' reporters insisted on their place in the Washington press corps and demanded entry to briefings and other press events until they were admitted. Topics covered in the paper included the antiwar movement, welfare,

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

, campus activism at the five colleges in the area, drugs, abortion, and the youth culture. In 1969 it had a reported circulation of 23,000 copies. A column containing reviews of illicit drugs was written by Pete Novick (born c.1948) under the pseudonym Fooman Zybar. Some of Novick's articles would contain usage safety and criticism of government policies.

References

{{reflist Newspapers published in Washington, D.C.

See also

References