The Chompsky Weekly #77
In which this is fine (rushed).
Hello,
It’s Sunday night. Which means you’re watching me struggle to produce a fortnightly newsletter alongside a full-time job, freelance work, and some semblance of social life in real time.
I love you for still being here x
Basically, football is on (and on, and on), Twitter’s still imploding slowly (and I have lots of new DMs from people who want to be my wife or give me a job), and the rich white guy called Bob that used to be the CEO of Disney is now CEO again, after the rich white guy called Bob that replaced him wasn’t very good at it.
Them’s the headlines. Here’s the rest.
It’s Sunday 27th Nov, 2022
Media News
In the UK, public trust in journalism has doubled since 2000, and is at its highest since the annual Ipsos Veracity survey began in 1983. The survey also shows that journalists remain among the least trusted professionals in the country, however. (Press Gazette)
Qatar has launched a review of its investments in London after Transport for London banned Qatari tourism advertisements in response to human rights concerns. (Reuters)
The government has refused to pass a proposed change in the law to stop SLAPPs, lawsuits that allow the super-rich to exploit the law to intimidate and silence investigative journalists who wish to publish information about them. (The Guardian)
A survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has found that 61% newsroom chiefs have embraced a shift to flexible and hybrid working, and around 20% were eager for staff to be back in the office full time. (RISJ)
Australian Sky News presenter and Courier-Mail columnist Peter Gleeson has left News Corp after revelations of plagiarism. Digging by Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission showed that almost half of one of his columns was unattributed reporting from a regional ABC journalist, and 62% of an article was copy lifted from a parliament factsheet. (The Guardian)
An independent review has found that police acted with “unlawful interference” when they arrested four journalists covering a Just Stop Oil protest earlier this month. It’s been recommended that the officers in question complete training on interacting with the media. (Press Gazette)
Reporters Without Borders is suing a French satellite operator who have continued to broadcast Russian TV channels. (Bloomberg)
The watchdog Media Matters for America has published data showing that since the US midterms ended, Fox News has decreased its coverage of violent crime by 50%. (The Guardian)
David Walliams’ future as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent is “up in the air” according to a show spokesman. Audio of disrespectful comments he made about contestants during a break in filming in 2020 were leaked a couple of weeks ago, followed by commentary across social media about other behaviour. Clips have surfaced of a stage show in which Walliams, in character, would invite teenage boys up from the audience and pull their clothes off. (BBC)
Campaigns + Content
HackedOff are campaigning for an investigation into claims the Daily Mail was involved in phone hacking. You can sign the petition here.
A journalist at Associated Press has been fired over a miscommunication on Slack that resulted in an incorrect story about the Ukrainian missile that landed in Poland. James LaPorta sent his editors a message saying that a source claiming the missile was from Russia had been vetted - which led to a chaotic chain of events that resulted in this being published less than 10 minutes later.
AP fired a reporter after a dangerous blunder. Slack messages reveal a chaotic process.
After being bought by Warner Bros Discovery, traditionally left-leaning news channel CNN is facing layoffs and a ‘neutralising’ of its political coverage. The US’ first 24-hour news channel is at a crossroads; is it going to choose a path that allows it to survive?
Layoffs, low ratings and a lurch closer to the right: is CNN in crisis?
Your one laugh for the week:
See you in a fortnight,
Love.Eliz