global media – Media Matters

January 11, 2021January 11, 2021

Big Tech, Political Polarization, and the Assault on Democracy

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Zuboff and Why We’re Polarized by Klein

I’ve been catching up on some reading over the holiday break and two books that caught my attention are proving to be quite helpful to understanding the recent events in our nation’s capitol. What we’re witnessing is shocking, but not surprising, to those who have paid attention to the ever-increasing power exerted by Big Tech over every detail of our lives, including our political identities.

Big Tech is shorthand for the companies that control much of our everyday lives through their use of software and hardware designed to capture and hold our attention. And speaking of attention, if I were to add another recent title that addresses this concern it would be The Attention Merchants, by Tim Wu.

By gathering the massive amount of data generated every minute of every day by billions of users, these companies have tapped into a resource that they have turned against us to predict and control our future behavior. Siloing, creation of filter bubbles, nudging users towards certain behaviors, shadow-banning (and now more overt actions to disenfranchise users) are just some of the ways that Big Tech is meddling in the political process. If that sounds like a radical conspiracy theory to you, I urge you to read these books and then we can have a conversation.

And while all of us can agree that what transpired this past week in the halls of congress was both dangerous and disgusting, reasonable people continue to disagree about how to respond to controversial political speech on the leading tech platforms. The ban of the President of the United State by numerous platforms, regardless of your opinions about Trump himself, is cause for concern and should not be taken lightly.

Similarly while the attack on right-wing alternative platforms, e.g. Parler, by Amazon, Apple and Google, may feel like a reasonable and perfectly legal response to unhinged speech that calls for political violence, the danger is to further marginalize and force underground a movement that has enormous popular support.

I’m not suggesting that racists, white-nationalists, and anarchists should have a seat at the table, but I am suggesting that unelected leaders of a few massive tech companies cannot be trusted to make decisions about who gets to participate in our political discourse. This time they may appear to be on your side, but what about when the tables are turned? We’ve given these tech platforms enormous power over the future of our democracy…and that makes me very concerned.

December 7, 2020December 7, 2020

The times, they are a-changin’

Bob Dylan, one of the most iconic singer, songwriters of our era, is cashing in. Today it was announced that Dylan was selling his song library to Universal Music Group for upwards of $200M (some are reporting closer to $300M). With more than 600 songs spanning a career of nearly 60 years, Dylan’s prolific contribution to folk, pop, and rock music is unmatched. You don’t have to take my word for it: Dylan is the only songwriter in history to win a Nobel Prize for Literature, “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

The massive deal is a great example of why copyright of intellectual property exists. Without copyright protection, Dylan’s musical accomplishments would be worth a mere fraction of its market value. And without the financial incentives provided by copyright protection, artists would be less motivated to create original work.

It does seem counter-intuitive that the counter-culture icon would sell out to a corporate media conglomerate. Universal Music Group is owned by French media oligopoly Vivendi. According to NPR, “[the company] will collect money any time another musician covers any of those songs, and it will earn revenue for allowing the songs to be used in commercials and movies as well as when the songs are streamed, sold commercially on such formats as CDs, or broadcast.” But Dylan has always resisted labels…even the label of non-conformist.

Again according to NPR, citing Universal, “Dylan’s songs have already been recorded by other artists more than 6,000 times, including such famous versions as Jimi Hendrix’s cover of ‘All Along the Watchtower‘ and Guns N’ Roses’ version of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.‘”

March 11, 2020March 11, 2020

The Coronavirus “Infodemic” and Social Media “distancing”

What travels faster and farther than a new virus that causes sickness and even death? Answer: Fear and panic about said virus. Below is a chart that illustrates our current situation.

And guess what viral story about Covid-19 generated the most engagement (likes, comments, shares): a story from Vice about how some people think the virus has a connection to Corona beer. Just for the record, the article’s premise does not appear to be supported by data and is, sadly, another example of hype outperforming credible reporting. And don’t even get me started about ingesting bleach or colloidal silver as a remedy.

Here’s what we do know. The new virus, which is related to the common cold and flu, was first discovered in Wuhan province in China at the end of 2019 and has since spread to dozens of countries, including the hard-hit nations of Italy, S. Korea, and Iran. Because of global trade and travel, the virus quickly began spreading illness, and even death, around the world. The most vulnerable populations are seniors and those with underlying health conditions. But unlike the seasonal flu, with which we’re relatively familiar (even comfortable), this new virus “feels” much more dangerous and has incited widespread panic.

Because of the fact that this coronavirus appears to spread rapidly via droplets (sneezing and coughing), and that a vaccine is likely 12-18 months away, people are justifiably concerned. However, the fear and panic that has accompanied the outbreak is frequently driven by the mis- and dis-information spread via social media.

But here’s where we can have a positive effect. Instead of paying attention to speculation and rumors, and instead of sharing headlines that may be misleading, let’s try to be as careful with our social media behavior as we are with our personal hygiene.

Bottom line: 1) engage in personal hygiene and social distancing to minimize spreading the virus, and 2) on social media take care to “distance” yourself from fear mongering and misinformation. We owe it to each other to do the right thing.

Here are a list of websites providing reliable information:

February 10, 2020February 10, 2020

Parasite With the Win

If you watched the Academy Awards, aka Oscars, last evening you know that the Korean film Parasite was the big winner. With four Oscars, including Best Picture, the social comedy thriller will be sure to attract movie-goers who may have missed it when first released. And because it is the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture, Parasite is attracting a lot of attention from the global filmmaking community. Also, it is important to note that the Best Foreign-Language Film label was changed this year and from now on it will be known as the Best International Feature Film.

In other Oscar news, Steve Martin and Chris Rock were pretty funny in their roles as “non-hosts” as they poked fun at Bezos and pointed out the lack of female nominees. The very touching Hair Love won Best Animated Short and Toy Story 4 won Best Animated Feature. Musical performances included: Janelle Monae, Eminem, Billie Eilish, and Elton John, and Elton got an Oscar. And in what some will consider a major upset, The Irishmen went 0 for 10 (although director Scorsese received quite a few shoutouts from winners). One of my personal favorites, Ford v Ferrari, picked up a couple of technical awards early on. The best actor winners were fairly predictable: Renée Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern. And as expected, 1917 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood did pretty well despite not winning the big awards.

The Academy Awards are both a celebration of what Hollywood does best (storytelling and the manufacturing of culture) and a cringe-worthy spectacle of decadence, hubris and self-importance. It’s hard to imagine it being anything else.

October 17, 2019October 17, 2019

With $B at Stake, NBA Not Sure Freedom is Worth It

How much is freedom and free speech worth to you? You may never know until it costs you something. That’s what the National Basketball Association and star players are discovering in the wake of a tweet-storm that began with a statement by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of the Hong Kong protestors. Because of the nearly 300 million NBA fans, political statements about China come with a price-tag.

First a little background. Hong Kong was a British colony for 99 years and was returned to Mainland China in 1997. China, known for its record of authoritarian rule and suppression of human rights, has been criticized by much of the Western World for imprisonment of dissidents and persecution of religious and cultural minorities. The current protests in Hong Kong have been widely embraced by those around the world who want China to end its battle against human rights.

In response to the tweet from Morey, the NBA issued its own statement calling it “regrettable.” A few days later LeBron James said that Morey spoke too soon, that he “wasn’t educated on the situation.” What situation exactly James was referring to is unclear.

LaBron has a history of speaking out about social issues here in the USA. If he believes that human rights deserve world-wide respect, he owes it to his fans, and to the people of China, to stand for the protestors in Hong Kong. Yes, standing up for human rights and free speech does come at a cost…in this case the cost is more than lucrative contracts and endorsement deals.

According to an editorial in Slate,

The league has certainly not covered itself in glory in its handling of the blowback over the Morey tweet and, in the process, reminded fans across the U.S. that the NBA is, at its core, still a profit-seeking international organization serving multiple constituencies of which the most important one is money.
Elliot Hannon

LeBron was right about one thing…before you wade into politics on social media you need to consider the cost.

August 21, 2019August 21, 2019

If You Build it They Will Come

If you build the most powerful propaganda platform in the history of communication and make it available for free to a global audience, don’t be surprise when anyone and everyone shows up to use (and abuse) your platform. That’s what social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google are discovering as yet another attempt to manipulate users has been revealed.

According to recent reports, Twitter said it will no longer accept advertising from from “state-controlled news media entities” after it was discovered that China was attempting to use Twitter and Facebook to engage in orchestrated misinformation around the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. This comes on the heels of repeated reports of Russian use of social media to influence political campaigns and elections in the USA and elsewhere.

The question now is whether these huge tech companies can put the genie back in the bottle. Or will regulation, new AI technology, or some other solution have to appear before we can feel confident that freedom and democracy are safe from the actions of nefarious state actors?