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

Toxic Media Wants to Avoid Paying Price

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Article in AP by Jim Vertuno, 10/25/25

Headline:  “Alex Jones fighting attempt to sell his social media account rights in Infowars auction”

“Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking to protect his personal social media accounts from being sold in the upcoming auction of his Infowars media platform to pay more than $1 billion he owes relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, claiming selling those accounts would violate his privacy and deny him a chance to make a fresh start after bankruptcy.”

https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-infowars-bankrupcty-sandy-hook-shooting-e62620a74409e4e4a57e331f1adf61f2

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

Vance Media About Cats – Clarified or Catified?

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Article by Julia Manchester in The Hill, 10/24/24

Headline: “Vance addresses unfounded claims of migrants eating pets during NewsNation town hall”

“Republican vice presidential candidate and Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) addressed unfounded claims he made in September that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating dogs and cats during Thursday night’s NewsNation town hall.”

“. . .’Now, do I think that the media certainly got distracted on the housing crisis and the health crisis and the crisis in the public schools by focusing on the eating the dogs and the cats things? Yeah, I do. Do I wish that I had been better in that moment? Maybe,” he said.’

“ ‘But it’s also people in my community, people that I represent are coming to me and saying this thing is happening. What am I supposed to do? Hang up the phone and tell them they’re a liar because the media doesn’t want me to talk about it?’ ”

https://thehill.com/homenews/4952384-vance-addresses-unfounded-claims-of-migrants-eating-pets-during-nn-town-hall/

The false rumor (which hurt innocent people) about eating dogs & cats even generated a song by The Kiffness and may be found on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BrCvZmSnKA

Sputnik Radio – We’re Not In Kansas City Anymore!

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Article in FAIR by Ari Paul, 10/22/24

Headline:  “US Sanctions Shoot Down Sputnik Radio”

“Russian state radio network Radio Sputnik is off the air in the two markets on which it aired in the United States, and the cause of the closure is reportedly US government sanctions.

“The Desk (10/15/24), quoting “one source familiar with the decision to wind down the network,” said “it was directly influenced by the US State Department’s imposition of new sanctions on Russia-backed broadcast outlets last month.”

“While Sputnik was not specifically named by the State Department,” the Desk reported, the sanctions did hit Sputnik‘s parent company, a Russian government media agency called Rossiya Segodnya. This “made it difficult to continue leasing time on Washington and Kansas City radio stations where its programming was heard.”

“. . . US government broadcaster Voice of America (10/16/24) said Sputnik‘s departure comes “after years of criticism that its local [Washington] radio station, WZHF, carries antisemitic content and false information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

https://fair.org/home/us-sanctions-shoot-down-sputnik-radio/

Traditional Media Diminished

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Article in AP by David Bauder 10/24/24

Headline:  “By moving to podcasts, Harris and Trump are turning away from legacy media to spread their messages”

“During this truncated campaign, some of the traditional giants of journalism are being pushed aside. The growing popularity of podcasts and their ability to help candidates in a tight race target a specific sliver of the electorate is a big reason why.”

“. . . In general, television networks don’t have the audience they once did. CNN, for example, reached 1.24 million viewers per evening during the third quarter of 2016, when Trump first ran, and 924,000 this year, according to the Nielsen company. Broadcast networks are so named for their ability to reach a broad audience; sometimes candidates need that, often they don’t.

“The picture is more dire at newspapers, which collectively boasted 37.8 million in Sunday circulation in 2016 and dropped to 20.9 million by 2022, the Pew Research Center said. Candidates once submitted to tough interviews with newspaper editorial boards in the hope of winning an endorsement; now many newspapers don’t even bother making that choice.”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-harris-media-podcasts-a5a0870943177ea9320389748fe2fa5c

Cambodia Reporter Exposed Scams, Jailed

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Article in The Guardian by Rebecca Ratcliffe, 10/24/24

Headline: “Journalist who exposed Cambodia’s scam industry released by authorities”

Subhead:  “Mech Dara, charged with incitement, freed on bail after video of him apologising to country’s leaders appears”

“Mech Dara, one of Cambodia’s most prominent journalists, known for exposing the country’s billion-dollar scam industry, has been released on bail after a video of him apologizing to the country’s leaders appeared in pro-government media.

“Dara was arrested last month while traveling with his family, and charged with incitement over social media posts.”

“. . . Dara investigated scam compounds doggedly for the outlet Voice of Democracy (VOD) until it was shuttered last year by authorities in a move widely seen as an attack on independent media. He continued reporting for other outlets, doing so at far greater risk and with fewer rewards than many international reporters, Southern said.”

His reports documented the Telegram channels where trafficked workers are bought and sold, and the desperate pleas of those trapped inside compounds; he wrote about workers who jumped from balconies in attempts to escape, and the role and response of Cambodian officials.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/24/cambodian-journalist-mech-dara-exposing-scam-industry-released

 

Media Coming to Take Him Away Ha Ha?

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Article in The Nation by John Walsh, 10/21/24

Headline: “Finally, Trump’s Derangement Is Breaking Through in the Media”

Subhead: “It took a reference to Arnold Palmer’s penis to get more mainstream reporters to tell it like it is. That’s progress.”

“Mainstream news organizations suddenly became more blunt about Trump’s decline—and derangement. Trump’s age finally catches up with him,” The Washington Post wrote Saturday. “Trump kicks off Pennsylvania rally by talking about Arnold Palmer’s genitalia,” AP headlined its coverage of the Latrobe debacle. “Donald Trump’s vulgar rally ramble fuels questions about his state of mind,” the Financial Times wrote.”

“. . . As always, The New York Times immediately “sane-washed” the story. On its breaking-news politics page, a short report said Trump told “golf stories” about Palmer without mentioning his lewd remark. But shockingly, after wide social-media outcry, reporter Michael Gold told a critic to direct his questions to senioreditor@nytimes.com, because “I filed something that included the thing you mention as omitted, but I’m not given the power to publish what I say.”

“. . . But overall, the major media seems more ready to tell the truth about Trump. All of the Sunday shows covered his Palmer remarks and the other evidence of not just vulgarity but potential mental decline.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-cognitive-decline-media/