Internet Media

Some Media Destroying Democracy?

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Article in Common Dreams by Thom Hartman, 1/15/25

Headlline: “Right-Wing Control of Media Has Crushed the Promise of US Democracy”

Subhead:  “If progressives want to slow this speeding train heading toward single-party rule of America, they must get with the program and begin to support existing and build out new and powerful policy think tanks and media operations.”

“Republicans are using their massive structural media and social media advantage to try to destroy Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, and the California Democratic Party.

It follows an old script, that’s recently been played out in Russia and Hungary, among other nations: Want to seize control of a nation and turn it into a neofascist state with the consent of the people? Just take control of the channels of public information and news, and then turn lies about your opponents and their supporters into a perceived reality. ”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/right-wing-control-of-media

META – No Friend to Journalism

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff, 1/9/25

Headline:  “Mark Zuckerberg takes Meta’s hostility toward journalism to new level”

“In a five-minute video, Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed his social media empire’s subjugation to the future Trump administration in a radical shift to “Musk-style” policies on its platforms. In his new Meta purged of fact-checkers, journalism is portrayed as the enemy of free speech. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by this dramatic surge in hostility toward the right to information.

“No more room for journalism. In a video posted on Facebook on January 7, Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his company’s new policy on political information and debate. The billionaire says Meta will “get rid of fact-checkers” – who have been accused of helping destroy online trust rather than repairing it. Instead, they will be replaced with a system derived from X’s “Community Notes,” leaving it to users to verify the reliability of information themselves.”

https://rsf.org/en/mark-zuckerberg-takes-meta-s-hostility-toward-journalism-new-level

Clawing Back Net Neutrality

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Mathew Ingram, 1/9/25

Headline:  “Net Neutrality Is Dead (Again). Journalism Could Suffer.”

Subhead:  “What a new court ruling might mean for independent local news.”

“Net neutrality—or the idea that all digital information should flow through the internet unencumbered by restrictions and without internet companies showing favoritism toward some types and sources of content over others—sometimes feels like an immutable law of the modern world, like gravity or magnetic attraction. But in reality, it’s a political football that has been tossed back and forth for decades between open-internet advocates and free-market conservatives, who feel that neutrality rules are unnecessary and a brake on innovation and growth. Last week, the opponents of net neutrality won a significant victory when judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission didn’t have the right to impose such rules when it did so last year. Now critics say that the death of the rules could allow the internet to become distorted by partisan political and corporate interests. It could also make existing online even more difficult for news publishers and journalism in general.”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/net_neutrality_repeal_journalism.php

Media Attrition, Like Hungary?

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Article in The Guardian by Owen Jones, 1/7/25

Headline:  “To see how Trump will control the US media, look at Viktor Orbán’s Hungary”

Subhead:  “Nick Clegg’s departure is likely to see Meta following X’s tilt towards the right. It leaves the way open for an insidious hollowing out of democracy”

“Will democracy survive a second Trump presidency? A change of senior personnel at a social media company involving a former British deputy prime minister may not seem all too relevant to this heated discussion. But Nick Clegg’s decision to leave Meta as head of global affairs, and the choice of his successor, may point to how western democracy dies: not with fireworks, but through quiet attrition.

“Clegg’s job will be taken over by his deputy, Joel Kaplan – a Republican who worked in George W Bush’s administration. He is someone who, according to a Washington Post report from 2020, pushed to block Meta taking action against “dozens of pages that had peddled false news reports” before the 2020 election, arguing it would ‘disproportionately affect conservatives’. As a columnist at MSNBC put it, his elevation is another sign that Meta is getting a ‘Maga-friendly makeover’ “.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/07/donald-trump-control-us-media-viktor-orban-hungary-nick-clegg-meta-x

Social Media “Free Expression” or Outright lies?

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Article in The Washington Post by Heather Kelley 1/8/25

Headline:  “Meta ends fact-checking. Here’s how to find the truth on social media.”

“Facebook, Instagram and Threads will no longer have fact-checking in the United States. Here’s what that means for your feeds and how you can avoid falling for misinformation.”

“A massive reversal on fact-checking could soon change what you see on social media. Meta on Tuesday announced that it is discontinuing its fact-checking program in the United States to allow for more “free expression.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/08/meta-fact-checking-facebook-instagram-users/

Ministry of Truth vs. Internet

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Article in The Guardian by Sam Levin, 1/5/25

Headline: “US newspapers are deleting old crime stories, offering subjects a ‘clean slate’

Subhead:  “A wave of local publications are considering requests to wipe or edit old articles to give their subjects a fresh start”

“Civil rights advocates across the US have long fought to free people from their criminal records, with campaigns to expunge old cases and keep people’s past arrests private when they apply for jobs and housing.

“The efforts are critical, as more than 70 million Americans have prior convictions or arrests – roughly one in three adults. But the policies haven’t addressed one of the most damaging ways past run-ins with police can derail people’s lives: old media coverage.

“Some newsrooms are working to fill that gap.

“A handful of local newspapers across the US have in recent years launched programs to review their archives and consider requests to remove names or delete old stories to protect the privacy of subjects involved in minor crimes.. .”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/04/newspaper-crime-stories

 

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

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

Robot Media Accounts

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Article in Slashdot, 12/27/24

Headline:  “Meta Envisages Social Media Filled with AI-generated Users”

“Meta is betting that characters generated by AI will fill its social media platforms in the next few years as it looks to the fast-developing technology to drive engagement with its 3 billion users.”

“. . .” ‘We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,’ said Connor Hayes, vice-president of product for generative AI at Meta. ‘They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform … that’s where we see all of this going,’ ”

http://”https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/12/27/1810222/meta-envisages-social-media-filled-with-ai-generated-users

Future of Journalism is Here

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Article in TechXplore by Megan Schumann, 12/19/24

Headline:  “Survey highlights public concerns over AI’s political and media impact”

“As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent, a new Rutgers University-New Brunswick survey sheds light on public attitudes, revealing widespread concerns about its impact on politics and the media, alongside an increasing adoption of AI tools in daily life.

“More than half of the respondents expressed worry about AI’s impact on politics (58%) and news media (53%), with researchers suggesting these concerns may stem from fears of misinformation and manipulation, particularly during the 2024 election cycle when the survey was conducted.”

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-12-survey-highlights-ai-political-media.html

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Sarah Grevy, Gotfredsen, 12/19./24

Headline:  “An AI Chatbot Joins Time”

Subhead:  “The magazine calls it ‘a pivotal step toward charting the future of journalism.’ “

“Last week, Time continued its nearly century-old annual tradition of choosing a Person of the Year, or an individual who, “for better or for worse,” has had the biggest impact on the world over the previous twelve months. Donald Trump, who the magazine said has perhaps played the largest role of any individual in changing the course of politics and history, was Time’s pick for 2024. Alongside its big reveal, the magazine launched TIME AI: a platform that consists of generative AI tools meant to assist people as they read the story. It’s a move that Time optimistically describes as setting a new standard for immersive storytelling. “It’s more than an experiment,” a Time announcement proclaimed. “It’s a pivotal step toward charting the future of journalism.”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/time-magazine-ai-chatbot-openai-perplexity.php