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Disinformation & Hate, Free-Speech?

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Article in New York Times by Cecilia King and Adam Satariano, 12/30/24

Headline:  “Social Media Companies Face Global Tug-of-War Over Free Speech”

Subhead:  “President-elect Donald J. Trump’s picks for the F.C.C. and F.T.C. have vowed to remove censorship online. That conflicts with European regulators who are pushing for stricter moderation.”

“President-elect Donald J. Trump and his allies have vowed to squash an online ‘censorship cartel’ of social media firms that they say targets conservatives.

“Already, the president-elect’s newly chosen regulators at the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission have outlined plans to stop social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube from removing content the companies deem offensive — and punish advertisers that leave less restrictive platforms like X in protest of the lack of moderation.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/technology/trump-administration-speech-policy.html

Selective Reporting?

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Article in Daiy kos by Lincoln Green, 1/4/25

Headline:  “Mainstream media downplays pro-Trump terrorist bombing in Las Vegas”

“In “Why Are Publications Sugar-Coating Livelsberger’s Political Minifestos?”, Talking Points Memo’s ever-astute Josh Marshall points out something that’s been bugging me for a day about the Las Vegas Cybertruck suicide bombing by Matthew Livelsberger. ”

“. . . But why isn’t this pro-Trump terrorism being reported as such in the mass media?”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/4/2295158/-Mainstream-media-downplays-pro-Trump-terrorist-bombing-in-Las-Vegas?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Advertisers, the New Editors

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Article in Slashdot by Editor David, 1/4/25

Headline:  “Advertisers Expand Their Avoidance to News Sites, Blacklisting Specific Words”

” ‘The Washington Post’s crossword puzzle was recently deemed too offensive for advertisers,’ reports the Wall Street Journal. ‘So was an article about thunderstorms. And a ranking of boxed brownie mixes.’

” ‘Marketers have long been wary about running ads in the news media, concerned that their brands will land next to pieces about terrorism or plane crashes or polarizing political stories.’ But That advertising no-go zone seems to keep widening.

“It is a headache that news publishers can hardly afford. Many are also grappling with subscriber declines and losses in traffic from Google and other tech platforms, and are now making an aggressive push to change advertisers’ perceptions… News organizations recently began publicizing studies that show it really isn’t dangerous for a brand to appear near a sensitive story. . . ”

https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/04/0613258/advertisers-expand-their-avoidance-to-news-sites-blacklisting-specific-words

No Media-Boss Criticism Allowed

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Censored cartoon by Ann Telnaes

 

On this coming anniversary of the Charlie Hedbo cartoonist assassination, another cartoonist is censored.

Article in The Guardian by Ramon Antonio Vargas, 1/4/25

Headline:  “Washington Post cartoonist resigns over paper’s refusal to publish cartoon critical of Jeff Bezos”

Subhead:  “Pulitzer prize winner Ann Telnaes had drawn a cartoon of the paper’s owner kneeling before Donald Trump”

“The Washington Post’s Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at the newspaper after its refusal to publish a satirical cartoon depicting the outlet’s owner, Jeff Bezos – along with other media and technology barons – kneeling before Donald Trump as he gears up for his second US presidency.

“ ‘I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations – and some differences – about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,’ Telnaes wrote on Friday in an online post on the Substack platform detailing her decision to quit. ‘Until now.’ ”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/04/washington-post-cartoonist-resigns-jeff-bezos

 

Journalists at Risk

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CPJ Photo

Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Mohamed Mandour, 1/3/25

Headline:  “Attacks, arrests, threats, censorship: The high risks of reporting the Israel-Gaza war”

Subhead:  “Since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, journalists and media across the region have faced a hostile environment that has made reporting on the war exceptionally challenging.”

“In addition to documenting the growing tally of journalists killed and injured, CPJ’s research has found multiple kinds of incidents of journalists being targeted while carrying out their work in Israel and the two Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank.

“These include 75 arrests, as well as numerous assaults, threats, cyberattacks, and censorship. As of January 3, 2025, CPJ’s records showed that 45 of these journalists were still under arrest.”

https://cpj.org/2025/01/attacks-arrests-threats-censorship-the-high-risks-of-reporting-the-israel-hamas-war/

Journalist Mass Shooting Anniversary

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Article in AP by Staff, 01/3/24

Headline:  “Algerian social media influencer detained in France accused of calling for attacks”

“PARIS (AP) — French police on Friday detained a social media influencer from Algeria who is accused of calling on his followers to carry out attacks in France, Interior Minster Bruno Retailleau said.

“The arrest in the Brittany port city of Brest on France’s western coast comes as the country is preparing to mark the 10th anniversary next week of deadly January 2015 attacks in Paris against the satirical Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket.

“On Jan. 7, 2015, two French-born al-Qaida extremists stormed Charlie Hebdo’s newsroom and killed 12 people, including the chief editor, cartoonists and a policeman in a nearby street.”

https://apnews.com/article/france-algeria-tiktok-terror-arrest-8401d12ec0bd79140acbcb8cac543637

Progressive Media Focus

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Article in Common Dreams by Phil Wilson, 1/2/25

Headline:  “Why Don’t Lefty Media Emphasize Capitalism’s Greatest Crime—the Climate Crisis?”

Subhead:  “The cause and effect linking industry to extinction ought to be the greatest horror story ever told. Our hands should be sweating as we shakily turn the pages.”

“If climate overheating is the biggest threat to life on Earth, one might expect that progressive platforms would be all over this issue. Of all the great crimes of capitalism—war, imperial conquest, siphoning pocket change from workers into bloated coffers of corporate wealth, shaking down ordinary people for a false promise of healthcare, buying up housing with private equity to spike rents, etc.—the baking of the biosphere stands out as an act of unprecedented, monstrous proportions.”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/lefty-media-climate-crisis

Telecom Giants Stop Net Neutrality

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Article in New York Times by Cecelia Kang, 1/2/25

Headline:  “Net Neutrality Rules Struck Down by Appeals Court”

Subhead:  “After nearly two decades of fighting, the battle over regulations that treat broadband providers as utilities came to an end on Thursday.”

“A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s landmark net neutrality rules on Thursday, ending a nearly two-decade effort to regulate broadband internet providers as utilities.

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said the F.C.C. lacked the authority to reinstate rules that prevented broadband providers from slowing or blocking access to internet content. In its opinion, a three-judge panel pointed to a Supreme Court decision in June, known as Loper Bright, that overturned a 1984 legal precedent that gave deference to government agencies on regulations.

“Applying Loper Bright means we can end the F.C.C.’s vacillations,” the court ruled.

“The court’s decision put an end to the Biden administration’s hallmark tech policy, which had drawn impassioned support from consumer groups and tech giants like Google and fierce protests from telecommunications giants like Comcast and AT&T.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/technology/net-neutrality-rules-fcc.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare