The Freedom Forum was created in 1991 under the direction of Allen H. Neuharth, former publisher of USA Today newspaper. Funding was provided by a foundation started by publisher Frank E. Gannett in 1935, called the Gannett Foundation. The foundation took on the name of The Freedom Forum in 1991.

The Freedom Forum describes itself as "a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people."

It runs the First Amendment Center and the Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. It is also the creator of the Newseum, a museum dedicated to the history of news, which will open in 2006 in Washington, D.C..