Month: August 2024

News Falls Into Social Media Black Hole?

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Audio Feature from CNN by David Rind & Clare Duffy, 8/28/24

Headline: “Social Media Scrutiny: Telegram, X, & the AI Election”

“The detention of Telegram founder Pavel Durov over the weekend has sparked major questions about free speech and criminal activity online. In this episode, we examine why the app has come under intense scrutiny in Europe and why a lack of moderation from American social media platforms has allowed election misinformation to flourish.

“Most tech founders are not household names. Those that are are usually either incredibly successful. Think Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, or infamous like Elizabeth Holmes from Theranos. Well, over the weekend, another name you may not know may have found himself in the latter category.”

Listen here – You could scroll past the ads after 35 seconds –
https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/97bb14c4-179e-11ef-aba1-2f81b79364a4

How Media Right & Left View Debate

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Article in The New York Times by Santul Nerkar, 8/30/24

Headline: “How Media Outlets on the Right and Left Are Covering the Debate Over the Debate”

“Conservative publications claim Vice President Kamala Harris is looking for reasons to back out of the debate. Liberal sites say it is former President Donald Trump who is seeking excuses to withdraw.”

Read here:  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/30/business/media/debate-media-harris-trump.html

 

Truth Social in Trouble?

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Headline: “The whole ‘Truth’: Is Trump Media the next Trump brand to go belly-up?”

Article in Daily Kos by Walter Einenkel, 8/29/24

“Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock price dropped below $20 a share on Wednesday. This marks a new low for the Donald Trump-owned company since it went public five months ago.

Predictably, Trump is having one of his classic public freakouts on his Truth Social site, even as the social media platform rapidly depreciates . . .”

Read here:    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/29/2266386/-The-whole-Truth-Is-Trump-Media-the-next-Trump-brand-to-go-belly-up?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_8&pm_medium=web

 

Media Are Transforming

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Article in Newsweek by Saul Hudson, 8/27/24

Headline: “Five Things Startup Founders Need to Know About Changing Media Landscape”

“A spate of content licensing agreements with artificial intelligence companies shows the media are in the midst of rapid disruption—again. Where once legacy print media stood as gatekeepers of information, now savvy users of social media dominate many conversations.

“Most media are digital, not print. Advertising operates under a completely different business model. It can all be dizzying, and for those who have kept pace with the innovations of the past 25 years, well done, but don’t get too comfortable. The rise of AI, crypto and other new trends is already pushing the media to become something new yet again.”

Read the article here:  https://www.newsweek.com/five-things-startup-founders-need-know-about-changing-media-landscape-1944944

 

 

Post-Cable But Want Local News?

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Streaming News Media

Article from Associated Press by David Bauder, 8/26/24

Headline: “Going local: A new streaming service peeks into news in 2024 election swing states”

In some states, for those who ditched their cable and still want to keep track of local campaign news.

“Fans of politics have another way to keep track of what’s happening in the most competitive states in the country through a new service that collects and streams local newscasts.

Swing State Election News, which began operation Monday, lets streamers choose from among 37 local television stations . . . ”

https://apnews.com/article/swing-states-election-tv-streaming-09fc97f64ad284f29134371a923a4d74

Using Ads to Disrupt Free-Speech

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From The Guardian by Adam Gabbatt, 8/24/24

Headline:   “Tactical ad breaks and lies: rightwing coverage of DNC is exactly as expected”

Sub-head:  “Hard-right hosts resurrect racist Obama birther conspiracy theory and lament Democrats’ treatment of Joe Biden”

“The coverage, which has at times avoided the more pointed Democratic criticisms of Trump by cutting to ad breaks, has also including the criticism of women both for smiling too much and not smiling enough, and the coining of a new name for Barack Obama: ‘Barack-Stabber’.

“As the week wore on, it became clear that one tactic for news channels was just to ignore certain things happening at the convention. When a video was aired at the DNC about about the January 6 insurrection, Fox News cut to an advert for a landline telephone.”

Read the article here:  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/24/oann-fox-news-dnc-harris-obama-biden

Sometimes Local Newspapers Can Grow

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Headline “Defying Crisis in Local News, The Star Tribune Expands’

Sub-Head “The newspaper in Minneapolis is expanding its statewide coverage and changing its name to The Minnesota Star Tribune.”

Article in The New York Times by Katie Robertson, 8/18/24

“The expansion is a rare big bet in the newspaper industry. Local newspapers have been shrinking across the country in recent years. A 2023 report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern found that almost 2,900 newspapers had shut down since 2005.

“But The Star Tribune has remained a bright spot: It hasn’t made major layoffs in recent years, and its newsroom has remained around 225 people for years.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/business/media/star-tribune-minnesota.html?searchResultPosition=5

 

 

 

Media Reformer Phil Donahue Dies

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Headline: “Phil Donahue Daytime Talk Show Pioneer Dies at Age 88”

Article in CBS News by Alex Sundby, 8/19/24

Phil Donahue was a keynote speaker at the National Conferences on Media Reform in Memphis and Minneapolis. The events, sponsored by Free Press, brought together activists, educations, media makers, and concerned citizens working for better media.

“President Biden awarded Donahue the Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier this year. The White House called ‘Donahue’ one of the most influential television programs of its time.

” ‘Phil Donahue broadcast the power of personal stories in living rooms all across America,’ Mr. Biden said during May’s White House ceremony. ‘He helped change hearts and minds through honest and open dialogue. And over the course of a defining career in television and through thousands of daily conversations, Phil Donahue steered the nation’s discourse and spoke to our better angels.’ ”

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/phil-donahue-dies-age-88/

Wikipedia article:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Donahue

 

Under-Covered – Or Ignored in the Media?

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Media hiding under the covers

From Mother Jones by David Corn, 6/13/24

Headline: “The Most Under-Covered Story of 2024: Trump and Right-Wing Extremism”

Sub-Head: “And it goes far beyond Project 2025.-Wing Extremism”

“One of the most under-covered stories of the Trump era and the 2024 presidential campaign is Donald Trump’s relationship with far-right extremism. This has been going on for years.

“Take Project 2025, the operation organized by the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing think tanks to develop a far-reaching agenda for a second Trump term that would grant him expanded powers to run an authoritarian-ish government

As late as July there was silence in the media, ” A recent poll found that 76 percent of voters said they had heard ‘a little’ or ‘nothing’ about Project 2025.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/06/donald-trump-turning-point-usa-charlie-kirk-right-wing-extremism-our-land-david-corn/