About


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Oklahoma City Free Press is dedicated to providing high-quality journalism that positively impacts our community. Click this link or the red button below to support our mission.

 

Our focus is on street-level news from and about Oklahoma City. Its people, cultures, neighborhoods, and government are the source of our news.

Our founder and editor is Brett Dickerson, an award-winning journalist. He has lived in Oklahoma City for most of his adult life.

We won journalism awards every year that we have entered contests and won multiple awards every one of our first five years!

The fact of active local ownership by a long-term resident of the metro affords Free Press a knowledgeable view of the city at street level.

It also provides independence that big corporate chain owners or absentee nonprofit board members cannot.

This publication depends heavily on input from engaged subscribers for ideas and guidance. “Our and we” will be style standards when referring to Free Press because loyal readers’ input is so important to our editorial policies.

Currently, Brett leads other freelancers in reporting and writing, shoots some of the photography, and edits the site, including web design and social media. He has a deep commitment to gathering the news in person and keeping up with sources far beyond the story.

Oklahoma City Free Press went live in October/November 2016.

After a hiatus starting in the Fall of 2018, Free Press returned in the Spring of 2019 with a full range of local government and community reporting.

Since then, we have added new freelancers with a broad range of experience. At present a compliment of 7 to 10 freelance writers contribute to our coverage.

We also offer a Community Voices opinion section and Letters to the Editor section that allows for responsible public discussion.

Currently, Free Press operates with input from several experienced marketing consultants.

Oklahoma City Free Press adheres to the Society of Professional Journalist’s Code of Ethics.

Read our Mission Statement and Goals.

Social media

Free Press can be found on several social media sites. We encourage and welcome engagement with readers and curiosity seekers on all of these platforms, where our editor is also active with an individual account:

  • Facebook: @oklahomacityfreepress
  • Twitter: @freepressokc
  • Instagram: @freepressokc
  • Threads: @freepressokc

About the founder

Prior to founding Free Press, Brett was an independent writer for Red Dirt Report, Oklahoma Gazette, 405 Magazine, and Territory magazine.

He is a member of IRE/NICAR – Investigative Reporters and Editors/National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting – and,  a member of the Society for Professional Journalists, national and the Oklahoma Chapter.

Brett has a long history of being a photographer. His experiences reach all the way back to high school where he was the yearbook photographer in his senior year developing his own film and photos in a temporarily-converted bathroom-turned-darkroom of his parents’ home.

Brett grew up on a farm near Piedmont, graduated Cum Laude from Oklahoma City University, and graduated from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. He spent the next 15 years serving as an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church.

He then went back to school while driving a taxi in the Oklahoma City metro.

Once he gained certification in seven subjects within the Social Studies, he went to work for the next 16 years as a public school teacher in Oklahoma City Public Schools, Chickasha PS, and Edmond PS. Two teaching assignments were in alternative schools.

He was chosen site Teacher of the Year by his colleagues at Boulevard Academy, Edmond Public Schools’ alternative school in 2011.

Brett took early retirement from public school teaching in 2011 to have time and energy to write more and learn news reporting. During that time he taught in online schools for Advanced Academics, Inc. and in an English as a Second Language (ESL) program for Oklahoma City Community College.