In my view Twitter and Facebook have every right, indeed a duty to ensure that their platforms are suitably moderated – just a pity they didn’t think about it earlier.
Freedom of Speech is Dead! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Category: Media
Social media’s replacement of local news outlets as the primary source for community information will likely contribute to an absolute deluge of conservative misinformation and the spread of local conspiracy theories in the years ahead, both issues we have already seen play out this year during the election cycle and the pandemic. The year 2020 has proven yet again that protecting resources for local reporting is essential — and could even save lives.
How right-wing misinformation filled the void left when local newsrooms cut staff | Media Matters for America
For all their flaws, the media does serve a purpose: they are the primary sources with access to the politicians. The media reports their actual words, and while the media does spin the facts, the ability of intelligent people to see the spin, bias and other shtfckery is our power. The media provides the primary evidence, on which we use our analytical scalpel to get at a far closer approximation to the truth than these propagandists will ever profer.
More Than Meets The Eye: The Media and Politics – » The Australian Independent Media Network
“What we have is a pattern where people who create content consumed by the far-right, aren’t shunned or excised from the media environment — but they’ve reached a level of success unseen since the Christchurch attack. That’s the most terrifying thing.” Their existence in these spaces can help set people on the path to terrorism, counter terrorism, and political violence, analyst James Cutler told Junkee.
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sky News?
Youth has borne the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting recession, yet their representation in the media is minuscule and dropping, according to a research report. News Corp’s widespread use of damaging stereotypes about young people was also notable, writes Elizabeth Minter.
Research Report: mainstream media either ignores young Australians or castigates them – Michael West
Defending democracy is part of a journalist’s job
Never let Trump’s accomplices live down their attacks on democracy | Media Matters for America
The commissioners confirmed the convicted terrorist behind the attack that killed 51 people had been active in Australian extremist groups before moving to New Zealand.
Far-right groups have used COVID to expand their footprint in Australia. Here are the ones you need to know about
The hysteria over the Victorian government’s MoU with China’s Belt and Road Initiative shows a disturbing lack of understanding of the project by media commentators, academics and some MPs, writes Colin Heseltine.
Australia pays high price for megaphone diplomacy – Michael West
Someone needs to remind Trump lickspittles Matt Gaetz and Sean Hannity that accepting pardons also means an admission of guilt.
Gaetz And Hannity Urge Trump To Admit He And His Family Are Guilty Of Committing Federal Crimes | Crooks and Liars
How the news mogul sold his media empire to himself. It’s a shocker.
Rupert Murdoch and the ‘big surprise’ theory of accounting
Under the terms of the deal, the SPAC would have acquired a major stake in Foxtel and paid off a large amount of the pay TV company’s $2.1 billion debt pile. The sources said News Corp would have kept a substantial holding in Foxtel under the proposal, which was not successful. A spokesperson for News Corp declined to comment. Foxtel and Telstra, which owns 35 per cent of the pay TV company, also declined to comment. Advertisement
News Corp received ‘blank cheque’ approach for Foxtel stake
While the ABC is made to suffer like no other media organisation (ODT)
As FOI documents reveal the extent of Foxtel’s government support, it’s important to remember that Foxtel has always been about haggling for government money.
What we do know, after an extensive freedom of information (FOI) request reported by the ABC on Friday, is that the struggling News Corp-controlled television company gets concierge treatment from the federal government on a scale unavailable to almost any other Australian media organisation.
Foxtel’s government begging bowl is brimming with goodies
The results show that in 2011 Australia had the most concentrated newspaper industry out of any country studied with the exception of China and Egypt:
Australia’s newspaper ownership is among the most concentrated in the world | News | The Guardian
Australia might need another media inquiry — but, as history shows, it probably won’t do much good.
Australia’s long and unproductive history of media inquiries explained
“The US election has highlighted the need for truth in journalism and the need to call out unsubstantiated and false claims,” said Hanson-Young. “Before we head into another election period in Australia, we can now take a proper look at the state of media diversity here and help protect a pillar of our democracy,” she added.
Rudd’s anti-Murdoch petition results in its first steps – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It was interesting to see that, albeit belatedly, the American media started to stop giving Trump opportunities to spew out his lies across the country and beyond.
The importance of regulating disinformation and ‘fake news’
The message from Fox is quite clear: Trump is going to win, and if he doesn’t, the reason is because of voter fraud by Democrats.
Fox is playing a key role in Trump’s plan to steal the election | Media Matters for America
The state of South Australia is the future. For one hour, on October 11, all of its electricity was generated by solar power, the first time this feat was achieved by any major jurisdiction in the world. So reports Richard Davies of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. October is a spring month in Australia.
South Australia first to be 100% Solar-Powered, as Solar becomes Cheapest form of Energy
Most media coverage of the Queensland Election campaign has been well behaved, except for newspaper journalists campaigning against Labor and a few others who would fancy joining them. Most media coverage of the Queensland Election campaign has been well behaved, except for newspaper journalists campaigning against Labor and a few others who would fancy joining them.
How the media will affect the Queensland Election outcome
Australia needs to give life support to Australia’s media sector
Facebook, fake news, Rupert Murdoch — whatever the causes of the media’s misery, the government must act now.
Australia needs to give life support to Australia’s media sector
Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News and an associate of President Donald Trump, has told people close to him that he thinks Democrat Joe Biden will easily win the election.
Fox News’ Owner Murdoch Predicts Biden Landslide Win | Newsmax.com
Something needs to change or we may be headed toward Rudd’s dystopian vision of an American-style media and social hellscape — and who knows what else.
Australia needs to give life support to Australia’s media sector
You may say that Rudd is a disgruntled Labour Party politician. But Murdoch’s son James noisily resigned from the Newscorp board this year on the grounds that he couldn’t stand the constant campaign of “disinformation.”
Call for Fox Media News Monopoly to be Broken up: Rupert Murdoch an “arrogant cancer on … democracy” – Rudd
The best we can hope for when picking up our daily paper is that an attempt has been made to present opinions with at least a passing nod to objectivity. That should not be too much to ask but increasingly opinion is clearly just that: opinion. What happens when propaganda replaces journalism?
Mainstream media chastises China, ignoring U.S. crimes
Yes Trump was an amplifier trivializing Covid-19 but never forget he was amplifying Murdoch media his primary PR company. Include Sinclair Breitbart and others in the excercise
The president of the United States is one of those members of the Republican base. He learned about the virus through Fox’s dismissive coverage and refused to take steps to protect himself and those around him from it. And now he has it.
Fox News systematically attacked coronavirus public health recommendations. Now its most famous viewer has it. | Media Matters for America
The Russians are POLISHING THE TURD (ODT)
Pressed to clarify his debate comment about Proud Boys, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday they need to get out of law enforcement’s way, and insisted he has always denounced white supremacists and vigilantism.
Trump says Proud Boys need to ‘STAND DOWN’ and let police do their job – but he ‘doesn’t KNOW’ who they are — RT USA News
Depressingly readable is the best way to describe Paul Barry’s revealing biography of Rupert Murdoch. I placed the word mongrel in the title of this piece but it could just as easily used scumbag which means a contemptible or objectionable person. It is a story about one man. A man with a love for money, power, influence, acquisitions, wives, children and even scandal. Scandal makes money.
Murdoch: forever brutal – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Yesterday Crikey mistakenly referred to Lachlan Murdoch in a headline on a story about ex-British Labour MP Tom Watson. In the headline we incorrectly likened Lachlan Murdoch to an organised crime figure.
Crikey apologises to Lachlan Murdoch
Tucker Carlson opened the segment by telling his viewers that Democrats were promoting mail-in voting not as a way to boost safe turnout during a pandemic, but because “they want the uncertainty over the outcome of the election, so they can manipulate the results.” His guest, Revolver News’ Darren Beattie, then explained that “a very specific type of coup called the color revolution” is “unfolding before our eyes.”
Warning of a left-wing coup, Trumpist media prep their audience for election unrest | Media Matters for America
“If the aim of this code is to ensure the viability of Australia’s media, then the Government should ensure ABC is included, that AAP doesn’t fail and that small and independent publishers don’t miss out,” Hanson-Young said.
Include the ABC and SBS in media code talks, say the Greens – » The Australian Independent Media Network
During times of relative stability and peace, poor journalism is an annoyance. But during times of crisis, mediocre reporting has far greater consequences.
‘Press release journalism’ favours Morrison and the Liberal Party
News Corp is just four months away from launching its internal newswire service into the open market. But is there space in Australian media for this and an independent straight news agency (as the new AAP hopes to be)?
Is there room for a News Corp newswire and a remade AAP?
The presidential election is just 56 days away, and as Donald Trump struggles to gain ground in key states, he is increasingly relying on deceptively altered media to bend reality in his favor.
“No government should let a single company control the biggest newspapers in every capital city bar one, plus a television station, plus the national newswire,” Rudd said. “Let alone an American billionaire like Murdoch
‘Instinctive monopolist’: Kevin Rudd attacks Murdoch over News Corp rival to AAP newswire | Media | The Guardian
Kevin Rudd
@MrKRudd
#ScottyFromMarketing wants a fall guy for 1st recession in 30yrs: Dan Andrews. Nothing is Scott’s responsibility: aged care failure; dodgy Covid app; slow stimulus when Covid first hit; no infrastructure plan to rebuild confidence. All aided by Murdoch’s Liberal protection racket
What Sky News pundits don’t report the Workers Strike strike at Spotless (ODT)
At the Spotless Laundry in Melbourne’s southeast, employers demanded that work continue despite escalating numbers of COVID-19 cases. The workers refused to allow the company’s profit to be placed above their safety — and won.
Melbourne’s Spotless Laundry Workers Went on Strike to Stop COVID-19
The murder of Seth Rich was a family tragedy. Fox News helped make it a national spectacle that has haunted his loved ones for years
A Murder, a Conspiracy Theory, and the Lies of Fox News – Rolling Stone
Seven senior officials had their security clearances withdrawn this week, making it impossible for them to continue in their roles. They included the chief financial officer and former interim CEO, Grant Turner, and the agency’s general counsel, David Kligerman, who both said they had been fired for their resistance to the politicisation of the organisation under its new chief executive, Michael Pack, a Trump supporter and ally of rightwing ideologue, Steve Bannon.
A good sign she’s the right pick (ODT)
via Right-Wing Media Is Already Hurling Racist, Misogynist Fire At Kamala Harris | HuffPost Australia
Pompeo to separate News from Propaganda would be too burdensome Fox News would have to shut down due to No Content. (ODT)
It really is and the media just go along with the loop (ODT)
When Axios‘ Jonathan Swan asked Trump about the 158,000 and counting deaths that happened on his watch, the president responded flatly, as of course he would, “It is what it is.” Indeed, but not for long.
via Help, I’m Stuck in a Trump Time Loop. And So Are You. – Mother Jones
It wasn’t so long ago Morrison was warding off Australia’s crisis with the success of Victoria’s Economy he didn’t emphasize that then. Now they are ready to blame Australia’s Economy on Victoria. (LNP
But while we are living as two Australias, we are one country. That means the huge whack the virus is inflicting on Victoria is dragging down the rest of the nation, holding back recovery.
The dire turn of events is affecting political leaders’ responses. Risk averse premiers are running their states as gated communities.
Morrison maintains a level of public solidarity with Andrews but the PM may find himself under mounting pressure from those within his party and its base who want the economy given a much higher priority.
via Grattan on Friday: COVID divides the nation and isolates MPs from Victoria
All of the social media sites have made explicit that they see misinformation about coronavirus as belonging to a specific category of post, which will attract more strict censure than other posts that break its rules, even those that propagate falsehoods about other issues. As such, the decision by all three sites to remove the recent remarks by Mr Trump may simply be a result of those specific policies.
Both sites have in the past appeared to give the president extra leeway within their rules, because of his high-profile and the newsworthy nature of his posts. As such, they may have been expected to take a similar tactic with coronavirus posts, but some of the sites have already indicated that they will treat Mr Trump’s posts on the issue more critically than they might with other topics.
Snake Oil selling has always been an American tradition. At least pet rock’s were refreshingly honest as was a can of Fresh Air. James Murdoch couldn’t “TAKE IT ANYMORE” Tucker Carlson wants to do more selling (ODT)
The Daily Caller is a right-wing publication with a history of promoting false information and hiring or publishing white nationalists and other bigots. In 2019, Facebook began partnering with Check Your Fact for the social media giant’s fact-checking program. Popular Information’s Jugg Legum documented in March how the Daily Caller used “its role as a Facebook fact-checker to boost Trump and discredit a mainstream media outlet, Politico.”
Check Your Fact states on its “about us” page that it is “a for-profit subsidiary wholly owned by The Daily Caller, Inc. Majority owners of The Daily Caller, Inc. are co-founder and publisher Neil Patel and co-founder Tucker Carlson. The Daily Caller’s fact-checking team is funded by The Daily Caller’s general news budget, as well as revenue generated through advertising.” (Carlson sold his stake in the Daily Caller last month.)
Has anyone thought about how would you get a measure of the traded lives when we lock an economy down? What are we sacrificing in terms of lives? Economists have tried to do that and we try to do that in currencies like the value of a statistical life… we are still potentially better off not having an economic lockdown in the first place because of the incredible effects that you see not just in a short-run way but in many years to come.
There was just one tiny detail omitted by media editor Leo Shanahan. Tearing up the silos necessarily meant destroying dozens of journalists’ jobs. Instead of having four reporters covering a round you would have just one, and the story would be syndicated.
The day after the Blunden interview was published, the axe fell. Sources say about 65 people were tapped for redundancy at the Herald Sun and the Daily Telegraph, although the company won’t confirm numbers. On Thursday it was the Oz’s turn and another 13 people were made redundant, including an editor in his 60s who had clocked up decades on the payroll and a brilliant photographer.
olddogthoughts 
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