Media Bits and Bytes - December 1, 2020
- The French Protests Demand the Right to Post Police Outrages
- The Marketization of Truth
- The Substackerati
- The Huawei War
- Brazil Elections: Digital Misinfo
- Scam Alert: Online Gift Ads
- Forbes Fears the Socialist Online Agenda
- The Tech Kids
- Cartoonist Hits Nerve, and Presto
The French Protests Demand the Right to Post Police Outrages
By Romain Brunet
France 24
France’s parliament voted to approve a controversial law Friday that will ban the publication of images of on-duty police officers. Journalists’ groups, human rights activists and unions organised protests in Paris and other French cities on Saturday.
By Marcus Gilroy-Ware
Red Pepper
We have become accustomed to the idea that even the most innocuous mass communication could potentially be politically skewed. In the last few decades especially, this suspicion and incredulity has been quietly fed by the very deliberate workings of neoliberalism and its architects.
By Clio Chang
Columbia Journalism Review
Substack, a newsletter platform, sought to create a more equitable media system—but replicated the flaws of the old one.
By Evgeny Morozov
Le Monde diplomatique
Huawei, backed by the Chinese state, developed and helped shape 5G, the next generation of mobile connectivity. Europe has its own potential suppliers but the US fears this and is restricting the use of Chinese technology in America. This has made Chinese tech firms ever more resilient.
Brazil Elections: Digital Misinfo
By Robert Muggah, Pedro Augusto P. Francisco and Louise Marie Hurel
openDemocracy
Just like Americans did, Brazilians are voting in the midst of a devastating pandemic, ruinous economic crisis, and a tsunami of digital propaganda.
By Susan Tompor
Detroit Free Press
Stop, step back and think three times before rushing to buy the next cute thing you spot on Facebook, Instagram or other social media platforms.
Forbes Fears the Socialist Online Agenda
By Peter Suciu
Forbes
In recent years many groups utilize social media to help spread the anti-consumer/anti-capitalist message. Social media also saw a lot of anger directed towards Amazon.com and its founder billionaire Jeff Bezos.
By Juliana Piskorz
The Guardian
Meet the children writing computer programs to track our health and wellbeing, choose a new school… and even how to cheat at online games.
Cartoonist Hits Nerve, and Presto
By Asa Winstanley
Electronic Intifada
The Guardian has censored Steve Bell, one of the UK’s leading political cartoonists. In a strip he has Jeremy Corbyn coerced into apologizing “for not being a right wing Zionist.” Bell confirmed that the paper refused to publish: “The only reason I was given was that they felt ‘uncomfortable’ with running it.” [More on “withholding the whip” here.]