Politics
Journalism and politics are inescapably inter-twined.
It's General Election Day 2017 - please vote Paid Members Public
Here’s a photo of me trying to do a serious electoral face, and ending up just looking worried [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158721411170456&set=a.57066280455.133832.699710455&type=3&theater] . But I do think this is a serious election. I’m not
To Understand Today's Politics, Let Go Of Digital Snobbery Paid Members Public
The last couple of years of campaigning – especially the last UK general election, the Scottish referendum with its “cyber-nats”, the Brexit vote and the Trump election – have made it plain to many that there’s a new set of elements at work in the public discourse – and they’re digitally-driven.
Boris created EU "fake news" 20 years ago Paid Members Public
Fascinating quote in a New York Times piece on the Brexit-backing British newspapers [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/world/europe/london-tabloids-brexit.html] (and principally, The Sun): > With little regard for the truth — he was previously fired by The Times of London for making up a quote — Mr.
From nihilistic lulz to the White House: 4chan and Trump's electing coalition Paid Members Public
Dale Beran has written a fascinating and compelling long read, drawing a direct line from 4chan springing to life from Something Awful’s forums, to the rise of Trump [https://medium.com/@DaleBeran/4chan-the-skeleton-key-to-the-rise-of-trump-624e7cb798cb#.ka2rhjhhn] . And the bridging factor? Milo. He took the GamerGate movement and connected it up with
Journalism is losing the culture war, because it's fighting last century's battles Paid Members Public
When politicians can lie without consequence, our culture of fact-checking does little to stop them.
How the alt-right media machine stole the "Fake News" tag Paid Members Public
This really is a mark of just how efficient and savvy the media machine around Trump is [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-to-retire-the-tainted-term-fake-news/2017/01/06/a5a7516c-d375-11e6-945a-76f69a399dd5_story.html] : > But though the term [Fake News] hasn’t been around long, its meaning already is lost. Faster than you
Beware liberal-flavoured conspiracy theories Paid Members Public
Beware political analysis from the tech world, says Sam Kriss for Politico [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/liberals-on-the-edge-of-a-nervous-breakdown-214727] : > Silicon Valley doesn’t really approach politics as a sphere of competing social interests, a space in which people have the ability to make collective demands and collectively
Calling a lie a lie - if you're a journalist Paid Members Public
Here’s an interesting take on an issue that seems to be gripping American journalists right now: > In a nutshell, a statement can fairly be called a lie if there is abundant evidence to the contrary that a speaker should have known about. For example, you can argue that
