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Category: Journalism/Media

Fake news spreads like an epidemic. Here’s how to stop it

Fake news spreads like an epidemic. Here’s how to stop it

The Straits Times reports: More than five years after the outbreak of Covid-19, most of us still remember the shape of the pandemic. It started small and distant. Then it passed from one person to another quickly, and we often did not even know we were spreading it. Today’s misinformation epidemic has the same shape: Fake news spreads quickly, and those “infected” by a rumour are often unaware it is untrue before passing it on to others. The “pink salt…

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There’s no ‘middle’ between neofascist corporatism and democracy

There’s no ‘middle’ between neofascist corporatism and democracy

Robert Reich writes: The statements seem as belligerent as Pete Hegseth on a bad hair day. “We are preparing for the next war that is coming,” says Jonathan Cowan. Cowan is president of Third Way, described by The New York Times as a “leading centrist Democratic group.” Cowan’s Third Way is preparing a $15 million war chest to “discredit democratic socialism.” Pointing to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in the Michigan Senate primary last week, Cowan warns that “it is deeply…

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Fired ‘60 Minutes’ journalist says she was pressured to report on events that ‘never happened’

Fired ‘60 Minutes’ journalist says she was pressured to report on events that ‘never happened’

MS Now reports: Former CBS News “60 Minutes” correspondent Cecilia Vega, one of several prominent journalists fired from the network’s signature broadcast this spring, said she was pressured by the news division’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, and other executives to include misinformation and political bias in reporting that aired this year. Vega’s account of Weiss interfering with independent reporting is similar to those of two other veteran “60 Minutes” correspondents, Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi, who were fired after David Ellison,…

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Trump’s aggressive crackdown on leaks is not unprecedented

Trump’s aggressive crackdown on leaks is not unprecedented

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration sought the phone records of several New York Times journalists and their relatives — including one reporter’s mother — in its effort to unmask the confidential sources who had provided information for articles about the security capabilities of President Trump’s new Air Force One jet. The Justice Department told The Times late last week that it had issued subpoenas to third-party phone service providers seeking several journalists’ phone and text messaging records….

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New York Times journalists subpoenaed as Trump escalates pressure on media

New York Times journalists subpoenaed as Trump escalates pressure on media

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration issued subpoenas on Friday to several journalists for The New York Times, after the news outlet reported this week on security concerns involving President Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One. The subpoenas — which seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday — were an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations. In some cases, the subpoenas were…

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A Peter Thiel-backed tribunal is putting journalists on trial. I’m its first target

A Peter Thiel-backed tribunal is putting journalists on trial. I’m its first target

Gary Baum writes: For many journalists, blowback is just part of the business. The irate call to the editor or publisher, often expressed through the promise of litigation. The online pile-on, often expressed through personal invective. Occasionally, the threat of violence, often expressed through all-caps derangement. It’s rare to encounter a novel variant. But on April 21, I received a remarkable email. “Someone has filed an objection against something you wrote,” explained Austin Livingston, pointing me to a web page…

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Scott Pelley: Bari Weiss tried to make 60 Minutes lie about the killing of Renee Good

Scott Pelley: Bari Weiss tried to make 60 Minutes lie about the killing of Renee Good

  Lulu Garcia-Navarro: You’ve now accused Weiss of injecting “falsehoods and bias” into at least one of your politically sensitive stories. What did she specifically ask for? What story? Scott Pelley: That’s February, and my team and I are doing a story about the protests in Minneapolis against the ICE crackdown there. We’ve interviewed Senator Rand Paul, Republican, because he’s going to hold hearings into this, and the fact that a Republican was going to do that was quite newsworthy….

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States preparing lawsuit to block Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros, sources say

States preparing lawsuit to block Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros, sources say

Reuters reports: A group of U.S. ​states including California and New York are preparing a lawsuit ‌to block Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The lawsuit is expected to be filed in the coming weeks, the ​sources said. The case would mark the boldest move yet by the ​states in their effort to be at the forefront of U.S. ⁠antitrust enforcement, as their better-funded counterpart agencies in the Trump…

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How Fox News viewership increases belief in the anti‑immigrant ‘great replacement theory’

How Fox News viewership increases belief in the anti‑immigrant ‘great replacement theory’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks on Capitol Hill on June 8, 2022, about a resolution condemning the great replacement theory. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta By Adam Eichen, UMass Amherst; Jesse Rhodes, UMass Amherst, and Tatishe Nteta, UMass Amherst During a Washington Nationals baseball game on May 17, 2026, three people unfurled a large banner from the upper deck of Nationals Park displaying a link to a white nationalist website. The website, warning of the replacement of whites by people of…

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60 Minutes hatchet man: ‘Nick’s politics are consistent with a lot of the tech people he’s covered’

60 Minutes hatchet man: ‘Nick’s politics are consistent with a lot of the tech people he’s covered’

Page Six Hollywood reports: Like [Bari] Weiss, it is hard to pin down exactly where [Nick] Bilton falls on the political spectrum. The central tension is that Bilton, who regularly criticized Donald Trump during his first term in the pages of Vanity Fair, now finds himself inside a company that many see as friendly, if not subservient to the Trump Administration. Interviews with friends and former colleagues suggest any political shift within Bilton has been subtle. Sources paint a picture…

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Scott Pelley accuses CBS News boss of ‘murdering’ 60 Minutes

Scott Pelley accuses CBS News boss of ‘murdering’ 60 Minutes

The New York Times reports: CBS News faced a fresh wave of turmoil on Monday after Scott Pelley, the “60 Minutes” correspondent, laced into the show’s newly hired executive producer during a staff meeting and accused Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, of “murdering” the longstanding Sunday news program. In an extraordinary exchange, Mr. Pelley, his newscaster’s baritone sometimes shaking in anger, told Nick Bilton, the new executive producer, that he had “slender” qualifications for his new job and…

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‘It’s over’: Staffers reveal how Bari Weiss is gutting 60 Minutes

‘It’s over’: Staffers reveal how Bari Weiss is gutting 60 Minutes

The New Republic reports: CBS News chief Bari Weiss has hacked up 60 Minutes to the point that even show staffers have lost faith in the famed magazine show. Weiss’s recent shakeup at 60 Minutes has involved the exit of several of the show’s major personalities, including correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi (who criticized Weiss’s decision to delay her report on a notoriously brutal CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador), correspondent Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich. Correspondent…

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FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote explosive article on Kash Patel: Sources

FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote explosive article on Kash Patel: Sources

MS NOW reports: The FBI has launched a criminal leak investigation focusing on an Atlantic magazine journalist who wrote a deeply unflattering account last month of Director Kash Patel’s work habits, two people familiar with the matter told MS NOW. The sources said the so-called insider threat investigation is highly unusual because it did not stem from a disclosure of classified information and because it is focused on leaks to a reporter. The agents involved are part of an insider…

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Why is the American media largely silent about Israel’s role in Trump’s decision to go to war?

Why is the American media largely silent about Israel’s role in Trump’s decision to go to war?

Jason Stanley writes: In an extraordinary article published on 7 April, the New York Times described how Donald Trump decided to go to war with Iran. It is highly unusual for the White House Situation Room to be used for in-person meetings with foreign leaders. But this time, the Situation Room was not just used for a meeting with a foreign leader. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin, Netanyahu took over the presentation space, backed on a screen by the leader of…

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FBI said to have investigated New York Times reporter after article on Patel’s girlfriend

FBI said to have investigated New York Times reporter after article on Patel’s girlfriend

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. began investigating a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, using bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security and transportation, according to a person briefed on the matter. Agents interviewed the girlfriend, queried databases for information on the reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, and recommended moving forward to determine whether Ms. Williamson broke federal stalking laws, the person said. Those actions prompted concerns among some…

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The war you’re not allowed to see: How the UAE rewrites the story of Iranian strikes

The war you’re not allowed to see: How the UAE rewrites the story of Iranian strikes

Sebastian Vandermeersch reports: Bellingcat has identified several high-profile incidents where authorities in the United Arab Emirates have downplayed damage, mischaracterised interceptions and in some instances not acknowledged successful Iranian drone strikes on the country. A review of official statements shows that the public account does not always align with what can be observed through open sources. This comes as the UAE faces sustained aerial attacks on civilian and economic infrastructure, challenging its image as a secure global hub for business…

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