television

By Amanda Lotz | (The Conversation) | – – On March 31, Deadspin produced a video showing a chorus of local news anchors delivering the exact same scripted speech to viewers. The message – denouncing media bias and fake news, calling it a problem that is “neither politically ‘left nor right’” – might seem innocuous […]

Internet

How Big Media Money & Monopolies Affect You: Disney/Murdoch to Net Neutrality

contributors

By Des Freedman | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – This week’s events have shown that the new digital media landscape is every bit as monopolistic as the old one. And what’s Murdoch up to now? Image: Rupert Murdoch, who this week sold his entertainment empire – but not his news empire – to Disney Two […]

Donald Trump

How Fox & Murdoch paved way for Putin Election Ploy

Juan Cole

Reprint edn. Update: Reuters reports that “Facebook says 126 million Americans may have seen Russia-linked political posts” By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Purloined Letter,” detective C. Auguste Dupin discovers a stolen letter in the thief’s own apartments after police searches had failed to turn it up. It […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

London Covered but 83 Iraqis killed in ISIL attack largely ignored by US TV News

contributors

UK lives are precious but aren’t Iraqi lives, as well?

Authoritarianism

Saudi Bloc: Qatar’s Al Jazeera can Stay, it Just has to Report as We Say

contributors

TeleSur | – – Al Jazeera said it rejects any “external intervention” and reiterates its “independence and professional editorial stance.” The four Arab countries currently boycotting Qatar are set to drop their demand that the Al Jazeera Media Network be shut down, a United Arab Emirates minister said. The closure of the Qatar-based broadcaster and […]

Donald Trump

Influence: Russia just Imitated the Rupert Murdoch/Fox Model

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Purloined Letter,” detective C. Auguste Dupin discovers a stolen letter in the thief’s own apartments after police searches had failed to turn it up. It was hidden in plain sight, on a card rack hanging from a ribbon, though it had been […]

journalism

Al Jazeera Defies Saudi Bloc’s pressure to close: ‘Journalism itself is under Siege’

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain want Al Jazeera – including AJ+ – to be shut down. Here’s what Al Jazeera journalists think of that.” Al Jazeera Responds To The Qatar-Gulf Crisis | AJ+

Arab World

The End of pan-Arab Media? Governments Ban whole Channels, Fine Fans

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Arab countries engaged in a dispute with Qatar have shut down media outlets with links to or considered sympathetic to the Qatari government, Human Rights Watch said today. The action is a violation of freedom of expression. The countries involved include Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the […]