Media News

News about the media.

Media – Anticipatory Obedience

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Owners kowtowing to . . . ?

Article in The Guardian 10/26/24 by Lois Beckett

Headline:  “ ‘Anticipitory obedience’:  newspapers’ refusal to endorse shines light on billionaire owners’ motives”

Subhead:  “The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post both declined to endorse a “candidate – a sign of political media capture”

“When two American billionaires blocked the newspapers they own from endorsing Kamala Harris this month, they tried to frame the decision as an act of civic responsibility.”

“. . . Veteran journalists and media critics are using a very different phrase to describe Soon-Shiong’s and Bezos’s choice: they’re saying the two billionaires, among the richest men on the entire globe, are performing ‘anticipatory obedience’ to Donald Trump.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/26/anticipatory-obedience-newspapers-endorsement-refusal

 

Which Podcasts are Reliable?

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From Ad Fontes Media 10/24/24

Headline:  “Junk News is Like Junk Food”

Subhead:  “We love them, but both damage our health and our society as a whole. What can we do?”

“We, as humans, have basic needs for several things. One of them is food. Another is information. We are always, by necessity and want, taking in both.”

“. . .Ad Fontes Media has known for years that podcasts, as well as YouTube and other social media platforms, have become a popular place for people to get their information. For that reason, we began analyzing news and news-like podcasts for their bias and reliability in 2021.

“As Podcasts Grow in Popularity, Harris and Trump Appear as Guests to Reach New Audiences

“Find out which shows can be trusted on the October Media Bias Chart for podcasts.

“Our team has now rated more than 740 of them, and 48 are featured on the October Media Bias Chart® for podcasts that was released earlier this week. Learn more about the chart, including which eight podcasts are included for the first time:”

https://adfontesmedia.com/podcasts-grow-popularity-oct-24-chart/?utm_source=Ad+Fontes+Media&utm_campaign=348e0cf117-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_17_01_44_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-e5ace1450d-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&goal=0_7489d5d067-348e0cf117-433946301&mc_cid=348e0cf117

Alternative Media All the Time

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Article in Politico by Rachael Bade, 10/26/24

Headline:  ” ‘All Trump, All the Time’: Inside the Trump Campaign’s Media Strategy”

Subhead: “A top Trump adviser opens up about the effort to court a different set of voters.”

“Perhaps the most surprising thing about Donald Trump sitting down with podcast heavyweight Joe Rogan on Friday was that it hadn’t already happened. The former president has been on an expansive nontraditional media tour during the 2024 race, sitting down with a range of podcasters, but often those targeting young men in search of the Bro vote.

“Helping chart the course is one of Trump’s most trusted advisers, Jason Miller, who laid out the campaign’s approach in an interview with the Playbook Deep Dive podcast.

“Miller and Trump have a long history together. He’s worked on each of Trump’s campaigns since 2016, in roles ranging from comms guru to senior strategist, and he isn’t afraid to elaborate on the campaign’s strategy or defend Trump’s most controversial comments.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/26/trump-podcast-campaign-2024-elections-00185619

Quacking like a . . .

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Article in Media Matters by Charis Hoard, 10/25/24

Headline:  “John Kelly warned that Trump is a fascist. Right-wing media absurdly claim by citing him that Kamala Harris is inspiring “assassins.”

“. . .  ‘If you keep calling someone Hitler, eventually, someone will feel morally obligated to take action’ ”

“This week, retired Gen. John Kelly — former chief of staff to former President Donald Trump — asserted in interviews with The New York Times that he believed Trump ‘falls into the general definition of fascist’ and that he has previously praised Adolf Hitler.

“Vice President Kamala Harris echoed the sentiments during her town hall on Wednesday night when asked about Kelly’s comments, sending right-wing media into an uproar.

“In a desperate attempt to spin the serious remarks about Trump into a negative story about Harris, right-wing media figures attacked the Democratic nominee, calling her hypocritical, claiming that she was repeating unsubstantiated claims, and suggesting she’s inciting violence against Trump by agreeing with Kelly’s comments.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/kamala-harris/john-kelly-warned-trump-fascist-right-wing-media-absurdly-claim-citing-him-kamala

Media and the Machines

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Article in Media Matters by Jack Winstanley, Jack Wheatley & Reed McMaster, 10/24/24

Headline:  “Far-right media figures are reviving their conspiratorial crusade against Dominion Voting Systems”

Subhead:  “With early voting underway, some right-wing media figures are falsely claiming that Dominion voting machines are “switching the votes”

“As early voting gets underway in many states, far-right media outlets and personalities have begun promoting a conspiracy theory that Dominion voting machines have “switched” votes, which echoes the debunked conspiracy theory about Dominion voting machines that was heavily promoted by far-right and right-wing media, such as Fox News, in 2020.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/foxdominion-lawsuit/far-right-media-figures-are-reviving-their-conspiratorial-crusade-against

Springtime for Media?

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from “The Producers”

Article in The Intercept by James Risen , 10/25/24

Headline:  “Mainstream Media Was Afraid to Compare Trump to Hitler. Now the Press Has No Excuse.”

Subhead:  “Statements by John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, have made it nearly impossible for the media to avoid Hitler comparisons.”

“For decades, reporters have been taught not to make Hitler analogies in stories about American politics. Adolf Hitler was so uniquely evil that any comparison of an American politician with the Nazi leader was considered unfair and out of bounds.

“And then came Donald Trump.

“Trump is the first modern American political figure to force journalists to reassess whether Hitler references meet their editorial standards.

“In my columns and other articles for The Intercept, I have drawn attention to the increasingly obvious parallels between Hitler and Trump and between the Nazi movement and the MAGA cult. Yet most mainstream journalists have stubbornly stuck to the de facto ban on Hitler analogies and have refused to compare the two.”

“. . . But in explosive new statements, Trump’s own former White House chief of staff has made it virtually impossible for the press to justify a continued ban on Trump/Hitler references..”

https://theintercept.com/2024/10/25/trump-hitler-john-kelly-medi/

No Human Anymore . . . No Human Anymore . . . No Human . . .

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Article from AP on CNN Business, 10/24/24

Headline:  “Polish radio station replaces journalists with AI ‘presenters’ “

” A Polish radio station has triggered controversy after dismissing its journalists and relaunching this week with AI-generated “presenters.”

“Weeks after letting its journalists go, OFF Radio Krakow relaunched this week, with what it said was ‘the first experiment in Poland in which journalists … are virtual characters created by AI.’

“The station in the southern city of Krakow said its three avatars are designed to reach younger listeners by speaking about cultural, art and social issues including the concerns of LGBTQ+ people.”

“. . . The change got nationwide attention after Mateusz Demski, a journalist and film critic who until recently hosted a show on the station, published an open letter Tuesday protesting ‘the replacement of employees with artificial intelligence.’ ”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/24/media/polish-radio-ai-presenters-scli-intl/index.html

Assessing the Media

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Article in Daily Kos by DoctorBeast68 10/24/24

Headline:  “There Must Come a Reckoning for Our Media”

“In two weeks, Americans will decide whether the United States shall continue as a representative democracy and the shining beacon on the hill of freedom and liberty, or will devolve into a corrupt autocratic state where political enemies are jailed or killed and the world’s greatest military will be deployed within our own borders to racially cleanse our nation of immigrants, both legal and otherwise. Those are stark choices.”

“. . . The media cannot escape its culpability in the erosion of democratic norms. There must come a reckoning for those who have failed to stand up for the truth, who have chosen profit over principle, and who have treated this moment of existential threat as merely another news cycle. Journalism is supposed to serve the public, to inform and educate, not to entertain and exploit.

“In fact, while the media sells the story of a close, nail-biting election, the reality on the ground tells a far different story. Polling stations are seeing record turnout, early voting numbers are shattering expectations, and the enthusiasm gap between those who seek to preserve democracy and those who support its destruction is stark. Far from being an evenly split electorate, a majority of Americans clearly understand the gravity of this election and are voting accordingly.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/24/2279113/-There-Must-Come-a-Reckoning-for-Our-Media

Can Missouri Decide What’s on Internet Media?

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Article in Ars Technica by Jon Brodkin 10/25/24

Headline:  “Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said he is investigating Google, claiming that the tech giant censors conservative speech and manipulated search results about Donald Trump.”

“BREAKING: ‘I am launching an investigation into Google—the biggest search engine in America—for censoring conservative speech during the most consequential election in our nation’s history. Google is waging war on the democratic process. It’s time to fight back,’ Bailey wrote on X, the social network owned by notable Trump supporter Elon Musk.”

“. . . Many Republican government officials want more authority to regulate how social media firms moderate user-submitted content. Republican officials from 20 states, including 19 state attorneys general, argued in a January 2024 Supreme Court brief that they ‘have authority to prohibit mass communication platforms from censoring speech.’ ”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/missouri-ag-claims-google-censors-trump-demands-info-on-search-algorithm/

Is Newspaper Not Endorsing, Endorsing?

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Update

Article in The Guardian by Lois Beckett, 10/25/24

Subhead:  “Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, who bought the newspaper in 2018, wouldn’t let board endorse Harris”

“Nearly 2,000 Los Angeles Times subscribers cancelled their subscriptions to the paper, citing ‘editorial content’ reasons, after Patrick Soon-Shiong, the paper’s billionaire owner, refused to let its editorial board endorse Kamala Harris for president. And that was just on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“After the paper’s editorials editor, Mariel Garza, resigned in protest on Wednesday, two more members of the  Los Angeles Times editorial board resigned on Thursday.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/25/los-angeles-times-owner-blocks-harris-endorsement

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Article in The Guardian by Lois Beckett, 10/23/24 Wed 23 Oct 2024 21.05 EDT

Headline:  “LA Times editor resigns after owner blocks presidential endorsement”

Subhead:  “Mariel Garza says she is ‘standing up’ after billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong quashes support for Kamala Harris”

“Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, refused to allow the newspaper’s editorial board to endorse Kamala Harris for president, the former editor of the paper’s opinion section told a media news outlet on Wednesday.

Mariel Garza, a veteran California journalist who has worked for the Times’ editorial board for nearly a decade, resigned from the paper in protest of Soon-Shiong’s decision, she told the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR).

“ ‘In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up,’ ” Garza told CJR.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/23/la-times-editor-resigns-presidential-endorsement