Facebook, Fox, and what ‘killing people’ means in a pandemic

Last Thursday, with confirmed cases of COVID-19 again rising across the US, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, issued his first advisory since the Biden administration took office: health mis- and disinformation, he said, has prolonged the pandemic, not least by exposing Americans to anti-vax propaganda, and social-media companies should do more to stamp it out. On Friday, Biden himself put a finer point on things. Asked by an NBC reporter for his message to platforms, particularly Facebook, Biden replied, “They’re killing people,” then added, “The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.” His bluntness drove a media frenzy and infuriated Facebook, which hit back—claiming that it is actually “helping save lives, period,” by putting good vaccine information in front of billions of users, and accusing Biden of making the company a “scapegoat” for his administration’s missed vaccination targets. On Monday, Biden was asked about his remark, and said this time that Facebook “isn’t killing people”; rather, a small but prolific number of users are. Some news outlets reported that Biden had “clarified” his earlier comment. Others saw a “softening,” a “walk back,” even a “U-turn.” Biden’s intervention—along with rising cases and plummeting vaccination rates—have reignited urgent media conversations about vaccine hesitancy, whose fault it is, and to what extent. Facebook has been central to this conversation, with observers debating the proper balance between the good... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-07-21 12:37:08 UTC ]

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Myanmar’s embattled press faces a military coup

Yesterday—after a decade of democratic transition, five years of elected government, and several days of threats, apparent walkbacks, and rumors—Myanmar’s military executed a coup and returned to power. Myawaddy TV, a station owned by the military, announced that Min Aung Hlaing—the army’s... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-02-02 13:37:45 UTC ]
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Can You Guess the Book Based on its “Am I the A**hole” Post?

Am I the Asshole is an infamous subreddit where people vote who the asshole is in a situation. Can you guess the book based on its AITA post? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-08-26 10:35:00 UTC ]
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Happy pub day to the first mainstream children’s book featuring a Sikh character.

A groundbreaking children’s book based on an equally groundbreaking sports hero comes out today: Fauja Singh Keeps Going by Simran Jeet Singh, featuring the story of the first centenarian marathon runner, is also the first children’s book from a major publisher that features a Sikh main... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-25 16:06:55 UTC ]
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Decade-long study shows why South Africa needs to stop stereotyping young black men

Young black men are often viewed through a criminal lens. A new book based on an 11-year-long study of adolescent men in a South African township upends the stereotypes. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2020-06-15 15:08:26 UTC ]
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Dr. Anthony Fauci’s tightrope act

On March 3, Politico’s Sarah Owermohle profiled an unlikely media star for our unlikely times: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the veteran director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci had demonstrated “an ability to talk frankly yet reassuringly about threats, to explain... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-03-24 12:06:29 UTC ]
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Someone wrote a children’s book based on The Office and I will never let my child read it.

I do not understand why you would turn to The Office for anything other than its grimly comic tableaux of late-capitalist malaise and self-deluded mediocrity. Apparently I have missed its potential to teach 4- to 8-year-olds the “importance of teamwork” and “that it’s always OK to ask for help.”... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-25 21:39:17 UTC ]
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This author wrote a book based on a Florence and the Machine album.

Have you ever listened to one of your favorite albums on repeat, gotten lost in the sweeping, cinematic feel of it, knew it so well that you began picturing it as a narrative, filled in the details missing from the music, and then realized the story you were telling was almost fully independent... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-20 20:20:20 UTC ]
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The media, ‘Klomentum,’ and the ‘erasure’ of Elizabeth Warren

Yesterday, people voted, their votes were counted, and we got (most of) the results. Normally, that observation would be routine, but it’s already been quite a year. Shortly before midnight, the Associated Press—which gave up on naming a winner in Iowa last week—projected that Bernie Sanders... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-02-12 13:10:44 UTC ]
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Johnson met Murdoch on day he signalled general election bid

News Corp owner was the only media baron the prime minister saw in his first three monthsBoris Johnson saw Rupert Murdoch for a “social meeting” on the day he signalled his intention to seek a general election last year, according to new transparency disclosures.Johnson saw the media billionaire... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-01-23 20:28:52 UTC ]
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Hodder pre-empts book based on Helena Merriman's Tunnel 29 podcast

Hodder & Stoughton has acquired a book based on Tunnel 29, a podcast about a student who escaped Communist East Germany only to tunnel back in under the Berlin Wall to help other refugees. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-14 00:30:17 UTC ]
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Lucy Wyndham-Read | 'I hated sport at school'

With a massive online following, Lucy Wyndham-Read could be on the verge of publishing success with her book based on a seven-minute workout. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-11 13:21:47 UTC ]
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Egypt’s Muhammad Abdelnabi Wins France’s Arab Literature Prize

Saying he 'wanted to write a story without it being shocking,' Abdelnabi talks about his book based on an actual case of anti-gay police action in Cairo. The post Egypt’s Muhammad Abdelnabi Wins France’s Arab Literature Prize appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-11-07 14:00:16 UTC ]
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Parliamentary Book Awards 2019 pushed back to 2020

​The Parliamentary Book Awards 2019 have been pushed back to February 2020, due to the general election.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-06 02:00:14 UTC ]
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Australian newspapers black out front pages to fight back against secrecy laws

United campaign by media companies highlights government moves to penalise whistleblowing and criminalise journalism • Lenore Taylor: Concrete action rather than nice words are needed on press freedomThe front page of every newspaper in Australia was blacked out on Monday as part of a campaign... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-10-20 22:51:36 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of October 21, 2019

Ballantine re-ups a major bestseller, HarperOne gets into the swing with Tiger Woods, Candlewick nabs a book based on a viral tweet, and more in this week's notable book deals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-10-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Legal Action Group to publish children’s book based on life of Lady Hale

Legal Action Group will publish a children's book based on the life of Supreme Court president Lady Hale next month.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-25 19:10:02 UTC ]
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Active Interest Media Gets Into Cannabis | People on the Move

Earlier this week, Active Interest Media, publisher of Better Nutrition, Yoga Journal and a slew of recently acquired former F+W titles, among many others, announced the launch of NatuRx, a new print and digital media brand with a self-described mission of "educating health-conscious consumers... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2019-09-19 18:48:19 UTC ]
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Constable delays David Lammy book back to 2020

MP David Lammy’s book on tribalism is being pushed back to the new year due to the looming prospect of a general election. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-13 07:51:32 UTC ]
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“Dear House, Don’t Burn”: On Svetlana Alexievich’s “Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II”

I FIRST HEARD ABOUT Svetlana Alexievich from a friend in my writing group who was reading the Belarusian author’s Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War (1990, trans. 1992), a book based on hundreds of interviews with those who lost their sons in Afghanistan. The title of the book... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-09-02 12:30:01 UTC ]
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AFP say safeguards on warrants for media raids would undermine investigations

Inquiry told leaks to media can have ‘catastrophic’ consequences and federal police’s independence and press freedom are not ‘inherently in conflict’The Australian federal police has pushed back against calls for greater safeguards on the issue of warrants that interfere with press freedom,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-31 07:30:13 UTC ]
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