Protesters attend free press rally before True/False Festival

Three Columbia residents started a peaceful protest about free press next to the Boone County Courthouse at 8 a.m. Saturday.

The organizers talked about what free press means, why they think it matters, what is considered fake news and what’s been happening with local journalism.

One of the speakers talked about the water issue that happened in Flint, Michigan, in 2016. The speaker said that a lot of local journalists were let go before the issue, and thinks that if there were more journalists, the issue would’ve been noticed sooner.

All of the speakers agreed that people should support local news outlets and, if money isn’t an issue, should start paying for subscriptions.

The rally ended just before 8:40 a.m., giving the protesters enough time to attend the first film at the True/False Festival, which started at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Two of the venues at True/False, The Blue Note and The Missouri Theatre, had long lines of people around the corner, waiting to go inside, around 9 a.m.

The festival had over 30 films planned for Saturday.

A sergeant with the Columbia Police Department said they had no issues with festival-goers Friday night.