Trad Media Off a Cliff?

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Article in Daily Kos by Sinai, 11/26/24

Headline:  “Legacy Media Plummets as Leftist Independent Media is Reborn”

“Anyone who has followed my diaries this year will be no stranger to the fact that I am a huge critic of mainstream media, now being relabeled “legacy media.” For years, I have grown disgusted watching them normalize Donald Trump and treat him as a normal everyday politician. The corporatist greed stinks on nearly all of them as they breathlessly cover every little dramatic thing that happens, hoping to scare or enrage as many people as possible without actually addressing the problems of politics — all for the sake of making cash.

Since the election, however, legacy media has hit a speedbump in their gambit to capitalize as much as possible on political drama: No one is watching them.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/26/2288899/-Legacy-Media-Plummets-as-Leftist-Independent-Media-is-Reborn?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

What ?! – Chinese Media News Sites Are Fake?

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Article in Forbes by Emma Woolacott, 11/25/24

Headline:  “Hundreds Of Fake News Sites Pulled From Google Search”

“Google has blocked hundreds of fake news services and websites from its search results on the grounds that they were serving up Chinese propaganda.

The firm’s Threat Analysis Group said that an umbrella group of four companies, dubbed Glassbridge, has been creating and operating hundreds of domains that pose as independent news websites from dozens of countries.

In fact, though, the content involves narratives aligned to the political interests of the People’s Republic of China — and the company has now blocked more than a thousand Glassbridge-operated websites from appearing in Google News features and Google Discover.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2024/11/25/hundreds-of-fake-news-sites-pulled-from-google-search/

Turkey and Press Freedom

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Photo form CPJ

Article in Committee to Project Journalists by Staff, 11/27/24

Headline:  “Turkish authorities should stop treating journalists like terrorists by raiding their homes and detaining them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.”

” ‘Turkish authorities once more raided the homes of multiple journalists in the middle of the night, in order to portray them as dangerous criminals, and detained them without offering any justification. CPJ has monitored similar secretive operations in the past decade, and not one journalist has been proven to be involved with actual terrorism,’ said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. ‘The authorities should immediately release the journalists in custody and stop this systematic harassment of the media.’ ”

https://cpj.org/2024/11/police-detained-multiple-journalists-in-house-raids-across-turkey/

 

Precedent for Arresting Reporters?

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Article in The Guardian by Paul Karp, 11/126/24

Headline:  “US lawmakers urge Biden to pardon Assange to send ‘clear message’ on media freedom”

Subhea:  “Exclusive: James McGovern and Thomas Massie warn US president they are ‘deeply concerned’ the WikiLeaks founder’s plea deal sets worrying precedent”

“President Joe Biden has been urged to pardon Julian Assange by two US congressmen who warn they are ‘deeply concerned’ the WikiLeaks founder’s guilty plea deal sets a precedent for prosecuting journalists and whistleblowers with espionage offences.”

“. . . ‘ “Put simply, there is a long-standing and well-grounded concern that section 793 [of the Espionage Act], which criminalizes the obtaining, retaining, or disclosing of sensitive information, could be used against journalists and news organizations engaged in their normal activities, particularly those who cover national security topics.’ ”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/27/joe-biden-urged-to-pardon-julian-assange-congressmen-letter

Actual facts and Social Media Don’t Mix

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Alronso Bedoya in “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”

Article in The Guardian by Dan Milmo 11/26/24

Headline:  “Online influencers need ‘urgent’ fact-checking training, warns Unesco”

Subhead:  “Research shows six in 10 social media content creators do not verify accuracy of information before posting it”

“According to a report by the UN’s educational, scientific and cultural organisation, two-thirds of content creators fail to check the accuracy of their material, making them and their followers vulnerable to misinformation.

“A smartphone user’s finger hovers over icons for various social media apps Social media owners top global survey of misinformation concerns.

“Unesco said its findings, which come from a survey of influencers, underlined the need for media and literacy teaching to help shape their work.

“ ‘The low prevalence of factchecking highlights their vulnerability to misinformation, which can have far-reaching consequences for public discourse and trust in media,’ the report said.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/nov/26/online-influencers-need-urgent-fact-checking-training-warns-unesco

Thom Hartman Interviewed by FCM

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Spencer Graves, president of Friends of Community Media,  interviewed prominent liberal talk show host and prolific author Thom Hartman which will air on Tuesday 11/26/24 6-6:30 CST on community radio station KKFI FM 90.1 on the Radio Active public affairs show in Kansas City. . The interview is also available on Wikiversity and will be available on the Pacifica Network.

Mr. Hartman spoke in September at the Grass Roots Radio Conference in New Orleans, attended by a representative of FCM on the topic of promoting democracy on our media platforms.

He has a streaming radio show at https://www.thomhartmann.com/radio/listen-live

Information about Thom Hartman may be found on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thom_Hartmann

To listen to the interview at 6:00 Central Time you may logon to kkfi.org.  https://kkfi.org/

 

 

 

 

 

Will Media Approach “Truth Social”?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Baertholomew, 11/25/24

Headline:  “Truth Social and Consequences”

Subhead:  “The political press gears up for an unprecedented story: the social media executive in chief.”

“. . .Trump’s post—or “re-truth,” to use the platform’s lingo—flashed a signal to journalists now entering uncharted territory, as they cover a president-elect who owns a controlling stake in a social media company. Truth Social’s parent . . .  launched its platform in 2022, after Trump’s encouragement of the Capitol insurrection prompted mainstream social media—Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.—to kick him off. ”

“. . . How seriously journalists should take his 4am posts is another question. “When he became a candidate, it became a more important tool,” Tara Palmeri, senior political correspondent for Puck, told me. “Truth Social is going to remain relevant as long as Trump is around, as much as we might want to turn a blind eye to it,” Sarah Jones, senior writer covering politics for New York’s Intelligencer, said. “I do think it’s worth paying attention to and following

https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/truth-social-trump-media-how-important-stocks-shares-announcements.php

Media Never Exaggerate, Right?

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Article in Daily Kos by Chitown Kev, 11/24/24

Headline:  “Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Media Illusions”

“It’s hard to blame them: Even as the counting progressed, Trump’s victory was described as “resounding” by news organizations ranging from the Associated Press to the The Washington Post to the The New York Times to POLITICO. Others offered “commanding win,” “runaway win” and “dominant victory.”

“Say what?

“To coin a phrase, we’ve defined dominance down. After years as a 50-50 country, it seems, even a small win gets talked about like a shellacking. Wriggling into office with a puny plurality and less than half the vote in an essentially two-way race used to be considered pretty weak sauce. ”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/24/2288338/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Media-Illusions?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Journalists of Valor Rewarded

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CPJ photo

Article by Citizens to Protect Journalists by Staff, 11.22.24

Headline: “CPJ recognizes fearless journalists at 2024 International Press Freedom Awards”

Subhead:  “Press freedom gala, hosted by John Oliver, honors journalists from four continents”

“The 2024 awardees were all honored for their courage in reporting on their communities while experiencing war, prison, government crackdowns, and increasing efforts to criminalize their work.

This year’s awardees were: Shrouq Al Aila, a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza and director of Ain Media; Quimy de León, a Guatemalan journalist and co-founder of Prensa Comunitaria; Samira Sabou; one of Niger’s most prominent investigative journalists, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a U.S.-Russian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist and editor jailed by Russia in 2023.”

https://cpj.org/2024/11/cpj-recognizes-fearless-journalists-at-2024-international-press-freedom-awards/

 

 

Too Late to Save the Media?

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Article in Common Dreams by Thom Hartmann 11/24/24

Headline: “Will Trump’s Return Coincide With the Death of Progressive Media?”

Subhead:  “We all must support (and share with our friends) those outlets where we find useful news and information. If we fail to do so, America’s media landscape may soon mirror those of the autocratic nations the incoming president so admires.”

“Have you heard that Comcast is planning to sell MSNBC? Is Rupert Murdoch planning to buy it? Will America’s media landscape soon resemble those of Hungary and Russia?

Without the rightwing media juggernaut, Donald Trump probably wouldn’t be president next year and wouldn’t have won in 2016. That said, the progressive media landscape looks like it might be about to get a whole lot worse.

Comcast, which owns NBC and its subsidiaries CNBC and MSNBC (among other media outlets) announced this week that they’ll be spinning off MSNBC (among others) next year.

And the consequences are already showing up. It was reported this week that Rachel Maddow just took a substantial annual pay-cut because of the uncertain future of the network.”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/progressive-media-trump