The Chompsky Weekly #75
The Chompsky Weekly #75
In which Elon transforms the public hellscape (into his own personal hellscape).
Hello.
These are shaping up to be fortnightly, because I’m tired and old and can’t handle a weekly newsletter and a full time job. Which is FINE. Alright?
Elon has dominated the news this week, pretending he’s totally happy to be buying Twitter after the law forced him to follow through on a dick swinging contest.
Allow editor of The Verge, Nilay Patel, to outline, hilariously, why Elon’s supposed ‘free speech’ mission is doomed:
It’s Sunday 30th Oct, 2022
Media News
Elon Musk has finally moved in as the new owner of Twitter, under the supposed banner of returning ‘free speech’ to the site. He’s been met by plenty of criticism regarding the sites already strong free speech stance, not least because one of his first acts was to fire head of legal and policy Vijaya Gadde, the exec credited with creating and upholding the site’s free speech stance. (Among the maelstrom, actors managed to convince reporters they were recently fired employees by standing outside a Twitter building holding boxes). (TechDirt/The Verge)
The Culture Committee has submitted a report to parliament accusing Nadine Dorries of lying to them when she claimed participants in a Channel 4 reality TV show were actors. The accusations may result in her being barred from the House of Lords. (The New Statesman)
Rishi Sunak has hired Amber de Botton, ITV’s head of UK news, as his new communications chief. (The Guardian)
Channel 4 is reportedly exploring becoming a non-profit trust as an alternative to privatisation. (Reuters)
The wave of layoffs in US media companies continues, with 3,000 jobs cut so far this year by major companies such as Gannett, CNN, Netflix, Acast, Future, and Warner Bros. Discovery. A combination of reduced consumer spending on subscriptions, and inflation/supply chain issues slowing down the ad market, means cost cutting measures are rife. (Axios)
The news site Semafor, recently launched by BuzzFeed founder and former NYT media columnist Ben Smith, has begun publishing its climate newsletter - and it’s sponsored by Chevron. (Gizmodo)
A report by NewsGuard has revealed that Facebook has been running millions of dollars worth of ‘Pink Slime’ ads - partisan electoral ads that masquerade as articles from legitimate news sites. (Bloomberg)
A Starbucks union has been ordered by a judge in the US to turn over all of its messages with journalists. The Washington Post calls the move “a sweeping and unusual ruling that will let the company peek into communications that courts usually view as private and protected.” (WaPo)
In the second year of Tim Davie’s social media guidelines for BBC journalists, just one was formally disciplined. This is up from four in the first year. The guidelines instructed employees to remember their commitment to impartiality, not to ‘virtue signal’, or post criticism of colleagues. (Press Gazette)
More than 250 literary figures have signed an open letter to Penguin Random House regarding its $2m book deal with Conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett contributed to the overturning of Roe v Wade after denying she would do in her confirmation hearing; signatories called on the publisher to recognise its “corporate responsibility commitments”. (The Guardian)
The New York Post has fired an employee who hacked its website and Twitter account and published racist and sexist headlines. They included “Devine: We Must Murder Joe and Hunter Biden”; “Gov. Abbott: I Will Start Ordering Border Patrol to Start Slaughtering Illegals”; “Rufo: We Must Destroy and Imprison Union Teachers”. (Variety)
A defamation suit brought by Stephen Elliott, founder of literary site The Rumpus, against writer and editor Moira Donegan, who created the infamous ‘Shitty Media Men’ spreadsheet which saw Elliot named by an unknown accuser as a sex pest, is coming to court. (NYMag)
Though its audience remains the smallest of the major stations, GB News Radio, which launched in January this year, was the only major news radio station to see growth this year, according to Press Gazette. (Press Gazette)
YouTuber MrBeast is launching a $150 million investment campaign to expand his entrepreneurial ventures, in areas such as merchandising and restaurants. He has valued his business at roughly $1.5 billion. (Axios)
Campaigns + Content
Natalie Bennett makes a great point. Consider donating to the Media Reform Coalition (MRC), who do great work on trying to pluralise and regulate the media (and whose blog I write too!)
Speaking of, The Wire has just published this interview with Tom Mills, the current MRC chair and author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service:
As BBC Turns 100, Uncertainty Looms Large Over the Future of Britain's Public Broadcaster
No UK Prime Minister has won in decades without the support of the Sun - Blair’s infamous deal with Murdoch is the stuff of legend (for media nerds, at least). But as Labour takes a leap in the polls, will Starmer’s past count against him? 10 years ago, at the peak of the phone hacking scandal, Starmer was the Director of Public Prosecutions trying to send head of Murdoch’s News UK Rebekah Brooks to prison:
The Sun always backs the winner: can the Murdoch papers warm to Keir Starmer?
Your one laugh for the week:
That’s all folks.
Love.Eliz