The Chompsky Weekly #57
In which the media contributes to the downfall of Russian dictatorship (thanks).
Hullo.
The New York Times Tech Guild won their union vote by a landslide this week, proving that sometimes, union busting doesn’t work, yay!
This week I’m going to have to give media news regarding Russia its own section, given just how much the media industry has been reporting on its sanctioning of the Fourth Reich.
Western platforms and broadcasters have been banning and ceasing their Russian operations en masse in response to official EU sanctions. Meanwhile Russia has banned numerous platforms (FT) and outlets their end, and created new laws around “fake” (not fake) news, in a giant game of broadcast chicken.
It’s Sunday 6th March, 2022
Media News
Russia
CNN, Bloomberg, the BBC and Canada’s national broadcaster CBC are among the major broadcasters who have ceased operations in Russia, in response to a new law which prohibits whatever the state deems “fake news” punishable with fines and jail time. Bloomberg’s editor in chief says the law “appears to criminalise independent reporting”. (Reuters/Bloomberg/BBC/CBC)
Google and Apple have removed state-backed Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik from the Play and App Stores, and all Russian state media from their news features. (Reuters)
RT America has effectively shut down, ceasing production and firing most of its staff. (CNN)
RT will start streaming on right-wing video platform Rumble, after being blocked on other social platforms. (Reuters)
According to data released by the BBC, Russian and Ukrainian citizens have been flocking to the broadcaster’s World Service for news. “The BBC Russian news website more than tripled its year-to-date weekly average, with a reach of 10.7 million people in the last week, compared to 3.1 million […] Audiences for the BBC’s Ukrainian language site more than doubled year-to-date, reaching 3.9 million in the past week, compared to 1.7 million, and the audience for bbc.com increased 154% in Ukraine.” (Variety)
Netflix has paused all future Russian productions and acquisitions. It continues with four shows it already has in production. (The Wrap)
Reddit has banned users from sharing any links to Russian state media. (Engadget)
An “iconic” liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) has been liquidated by its board after being blocked by the state’s censorship watchdog for its war coverage. (The Moscow Times)
A Ukrainian journalist has been killed in the shelling of a Kyiv TV tower. (Committee to Protect Journalists)
WaPo media writer Paul Farhi says that the paper is removing bylines and datelines from stories to protect its journalists. (Paul Farhi on Twitter)
One member of a Sky News team was shot, the bullet caught by body armour, when their vehicle came under heavy fire from Russian forces in Ukraine. They managed to escape (content warning, obviously):
The Rest
Meta’s first ‘Widely Viewed Content’ report, which the company launched to prove its algorithms weren’t biased towards right-wing news, shows that spam, junk and recipes are seeing the most exposure on Facebook. It’s most viewed page was one that was removed for violating its community guidelines, but the company hasn’t said what that page is. (Social Media Today)
An investigation by MIT Technology Review reveals details of ‘Operation Safety Net’, a “sprawling, technologically sophisticated system” designed by Minnesota law enforcement to digitally monitor civil rights protesters after the George Floyd/BLM marches. (MIT Technology Review)
Contrary to many other platforms, Twitch has announced that it will ban “harmful misinformation superspreaders who persistently share misinformation on or off of Twitch.” The company have noted that misinformation can lead to “real-world harms” and that the company’s rapidly expanding influence could contribute to this. (NYT)
All four reporters at a tiny Oregon newsroom have quit in the same week due to low pay. After the editor of the Klamath Falls Herald and News moved to another paper, its three reporters decided to quit too. The area is “plagued by drought and facing a series of massive dam removal projects”; the general manager says he will keep the paper open. (Jefferson Public Radio)
MTV are launching a new reality competition show for TikTok stars. (Deadline)
In the first “experiment” of its kind for the platform, Netflix will launch Trivia Quest, an interactive daily quiz show. (Engadget)