Skip to main content

Media Bits and Bytes - December 3, 2019

Bloomberg News and Bloomberg for Prez / Covering the UK Election / Google's Anti-Union / Iran vs Internet / Digital Chains / COPRA / .Org Privatized? / China Copes With Fake News / The Disinfo Kings

Rupert Murdoch by Steve Brodner,Columbia Journalism Review

 

 

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

 

When a Media Mogul Runs For President

By Matt Taibbi

November 25, 2019

Rolling Stone

Bloomberg News suffered a major disruption. The episode predicts the future of the news business, and the death of the news business. After Mike Bloomberg formally entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bloomberg agency Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait told staff it would not “investigate” either his owner and boss, or any of his boss’s Democratic opponents.

How UK Press Covers Tories vs. Labour

By Lizzy Buchan

December 3, 2019

The Independent

British newspapers’ attacks on Labour have intensified while Tories continue to get positive coverage, a study finds. Jeremy Corbyn’s party met with deepening hostility while Tories lose shine as the election campaign enters its end stages.

Google’s Anti-Union

By Kate Cox

November 26, 2019

Ars Technica

Tensions between Google parent company Alphabet and its workers are again on the rise, as four employees at the forefront of an organization movement within Google have been fired. The firings came in the wake of an employee rally at Google's San Francisco office. 

Iran Restricts Internet

By Pooya Stone

December 1, 2019

Iran Focus

Iranian authorities apparently began reconnecting much of the country’s internet on Friday, one week after the outbreak of anti-government protests. 

Digital Chains

By Lizzie O'Shea

December 1, 2019

Jacobin

As data-mining companies and government decision-making edge ever closer, it is not just our digital privacy that’s at risk, but our very capacity to organize in solidarity.

COPRA is Good For You

By Allen St. John

November 26, 2019

Consumer Reports

The Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act, or COPRA, could expand individual rights when it comes to how all sorts of personal data is collected, shared, and used. It would require companies to collect as little information as possible about consumers, require explicit consent when sharing consumer data with third parties, and make companies responsible for correcting or deleting inaccurate information.

Protecting .ORG

By Elliot Harmon

November 22, 2019

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Public Interest Registry (PIR)—the organization that manages the .ORG top-level domain— is to be sold to private equity firm Ethos Capital. .ORG is extremely important to the non-governmental organization (NGO) community, and our community should have a voice in decisions affecting the future of .ORG.

China’s "Fake News" Deterrent

By Daria Solovieva

December 2, 2019

Karma

China is moving to regulate deepfake video and audio content, applying a strong-armed approach to an increasingly pervasive issue that other countries have struggled to control.

Cartoon Gallery: The Disinfo Kings

By Sam Thielman

Fall 2019

Columbia Journalism Review

Steve Brodner illustrates some of the worst offenders in the disinformation world.