Power and Pop Culture

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The Chompsky Weekly #63
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The Chompsky Weekly #63

In which the fossil fuel industry's bullshit is colour coded.

Eliz Mizon
May 27
1
Share this post
The Chompsky Weekly #63
elizmizon.substack.com

Hello frens,

Conservative MP and COP26 president Alok Sharma this week encouraged the press to hold him and his contemporaries to account. I would have preferred him to say he would hold fossil fuel companies, and the leader of his party, to account, but ok:

Chompsky: Power and Pop Culture
COP26 President Instructs Media to Hold Him to Account
The keynote speech at last week’s 2022 Society of Editors conference was delivered by Alok Sharma, president of Glasgow’s COP26 and Conservative MP for Reading West. Speaking on the media’s role in addressing climate change he told journalists gathered that…
Read more
3 months ago · 1 like · Eliz Mizon

In response to the gutting of arts and humanities across the higher education sector, MeCCSA (that’s the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association) released a statement in support of the academics who are being subjected to a ‘fire and rehire’ process:

Chompsky: Power and Pop Culture
Academics Respond to the Government's Gutting of Arts Courses
Significant cuts and closures are being felt at universities around the country as a result of continuing cuts to higher education budgets for arts, humanities, and social science courses. The University and Colleges Union (UCU) called the case at Roehampton University a “cull”: management is enacting a “fire and rehire” process, sacking 226 academics—half of their academic staff—and asking them to re-apply for a decreased number of positions in the schools of arts, humanities and social sciences, education, psychology, and life and health sciences…
Read more
3 months ago · Eliz Mizon

In other SHOCKING news, this dataviz outlines the many ways fossil fuel companies are doing fuck all to address the climate emergency, and in fact continuing to fuel it (pun always intended), no matter what their latest greenhogwashing says:

Twitter avatar for @DavidxvxDavid Tong @Davidxvx
We just published our latest update of our Big Oil Reality Check analysis. Instead of actually confronting the climate crisis, big oil and gas companies’ climate pledges and plans still appear to be designed to disinform and distract.
Image

May 24th 2022

1,079 Retweets1,817 Likes

It’s Friday 27th May, 2022

Media News

  • In response to the most recent school shooting in Texas, Vanity Fair has reported a wave of journalists calling for the release of graphic imagery showing the results of a school shooting: “Couldn’t have imagined saying this years ago, but it’s time - with the permission of a surviving parent - to show what a slaughtered 7-year-old looks like”. (Vanity Fair)

  • The BBC has announced a “digital-first” policy, which includes moving CBBC, BBC Four and Radio 4 to online-only services in the next few years. It is part of a £500 million cost cutting measure, which will also see the broadcaster cut 1000 jobs from its license-fee funded arm. (BBC)

  • An investigation by CNN has accused the IDF of murdering Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh: “Videos obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.” (CNN)

  • A report by Influence Map details a concerted lobbying campaign by the fossil fuel industry across “social media, traditional media, public presentations, investor calls, and direct interactions with America’s policymakers” to use the war in Ukraine to legitimise a ramping up of fossil fuel extraction. (Influence Map)

  • This week saw a Twitter storm around Stuart Kirk, head of responsible investing at HSBC Asset Management, who downplayed the threat of climate chaos in his speech to the FT Moral Money summit, saying the science is overblown by “nut jobs”. After FT and HSBC publicly disavowed his comments, critics pointed out that each company would have had to sign off on his presentation, titled “Why investors need not worry about climate risk”, prior to the event. Kirk was “expressing what many bankers think when the media isn’t around”, said banker Sasja Beslik. (FT/Bloomberg)

  • A new study by the actors’ union Equity, on mental health in the performing arts, shows “a culture of unstable work, antisocial hours and financial fears is fueling a mental health crisis”. In response they have launched a “Mental Health Charter” with five demands for the industry. (Equity)

  • For the BBC’s mid-term charter review, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has directed the focus to a review of impartiality and the diversity of its workforce. (gov.uk)

  • Russia's foreign ministry has threatened YouTube, saying that each time they block a briefing by its spokeswoman, a reporter from a Western country will be expelled from the country. (Reuters)

  • Male TV presenters in Afghanistan decided to wear face masks in solidarity with their female colleagues, after the Taliban issued an order that all female news presenters must cover their faces. (The Guardian)

Campaigns + Content

Press reform campaign group HackedOff have launched a ‘Leveson Defence Fund’ in response to the repeal of Section 40 by Boris:

“With an eye on shoring up his support in the press ahead of the next General Election, Boris Johnson announced plans to repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. This strips out a key part of the Leveson framework for press regulation. It’s an assault on the freedom of independent newspapers, and shows total disregard to the victims of press abuse.

It’s a clear sign that for the next two years Johnson is keen to do favours for newspaper owners in return for their backing in a 2024 General Election.”


Photographer Neal Haddaway has been interviewing and photographing climate researchers, discussing with them their emotional responses to the climate emergency. You can see the interactive exhibition of the results, titled 'Hope? and how to grieve for the planet':

Twitter avatar for @nealhaddawayNeal R Haddaway @nealhaddaway
For 12 months I've been developing a photography project exploring environmental researchers' feelings about the state of the world today: 'Hope? and how to grieve for the planet'. A 🧵... #ClimateEmotions #ClimateAnxiety #EcoAnxiety #Photography
nealhaddaway.com/hope
Image

May 20th 2022

36 Retweets101 Likes

A multi-media package of articles on the debt-bondage of Haiti by France launched in the NYT this week, on the basis it was “a first”. It attracted as much attention from critics as fans, in a furore around missing citations and the presentation of the story as ‘untold’:

“The Times described the story as a whole as “rarely taught or acknowledged,” and claimed that “leading historians” viewed its efforts to calculate the payments as “a first.” Monica Drake, a Times editor, described the package as “investigative journalism, the documents are just really old.”

The Times, Haiti, and the treacherous bridge linking history and journalism


Twitter avatar for @aljwhiteAlan White @aljwhite
Absolutely incredible content from @SamCoatesSky here

May 24th 2022

10,941 Retweets57,016 Likes

That’s all folks,

Love.Eliz

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