- What the Papers Say About the Almost Coup in Russia
- WGA Strikers Stand Tall
- Newspaper Swapping Editors For AI
- How Bollywood Shaped Elections in India
- Left Takes on AI
- Locking Up Journalists
- The Disinformation Wars
- Staff, Owners Fight Over French Paper’s Direction
- Trans Coverage
- Reddit Got It Wrong
What the Papers Say About the Almost Coup in Russia
By Graham Russell
The Guardian
The extraordinary uprising by the Wagner mercenary force so crucial to Vladimir Putin’s war machine in Ukraine has dominated headlines around the world and raised question marks about the Russian president’s grip on power.
By Cynthia Littleton, Gene Maddaus, Selome Hailu and Adam B. Vary
Variety
Boots Riley brought the fire. Lindsay Dougherty brought the Teamsters. And top leaders of SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, American Federation of Musicians and other area unions gathered by the hundreds Wednesday to show solidarity with striking writers at the WGA Strong March and Rally for a Fair Contract held at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Newspaper Swapping Editors For AI
By Faustine Ngila
Quartz
“[We are] starting a clear AI offensive because we also need that for our move to digital-only...AI will soon be able to completely take over the layout of the printed newspaper.” Staff roles that will be affected include those of editor-in-chief, sub-editors, photo editors, because these jobs “no longer exist as they do today.”
How Bollywood Shaped Elections in India
By Basit Parray and Nuzhat Khan
The Diplomat
In recent times, movies dealing with polarizing contemporary political issues have become a trend. These movies evidently model themselves as campaign runners for the 2024 general assembly elections for the ruling government. Propaganda films are, thus, mobilizing Indian voters, especially the youth, toward voting for vested political interests.
Left Takes on AI
- AI, Marxism and Productive Forces By Michael Pröbsting, Links
- Abstracting the World and Ourselves By Anjan Sundaram and David Wallace-Wells, Democracy Now!
- The Social and Public Alternative By Laura Pennacchi, il manifesto Global
By Brett Wilkins
Common Dreams
Press freedom and civil liberties defenders condemned what legal experts called the unconstitutional conviction of two Asheville, North Carolina journalists for violating a public park curfew while covering the police eviction of unhoused people on Christmas night 2021.
By Helena Sheehan
Monthly Review
What really is going on in the current mobilization against disinformation? Whose interests are being served by it? Could it be that those forces portraying themselves as bulwarks against disinformation are actually the most insidious purveyors of disinformation? Does the focus on disinformation conceal the real deceit?
Staff, Owners Fight Over French Paper’s Direction
By Michel Rose
Reuters
France’s flagship Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, was not published this Sunday after its staff went on strike to protest against the nomination of a new editor-in-chief who worked for a far-right magazine. Geoffroy Lejeune is the former head of magazine Valeurs Actuelles, which has courted controversy with anti-immigrant covers and was fined for racist insult in 2022.
By Alex Koren
FAIR
Anti-trans organizations, such as the American College of Pediatricians, have made false and misleading claims about the science behind gender-affirming care. Right-wing media outlets regularly give such sources a platform to make those claims, but centrist outlets, too, often credulously air such claims, laundering them for a mainstream audience.
By Rory Mir
Electronic Frontier Foundation
After weeks of burning through users’ goodwill, Reddit is facing a moderator strike and an exodus of its most important users. It’s the latest example of a social media site making a critical mistake: users aren’t there for the services, they’re there for the community. Building barriers to access is a war of attrition.
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