Last week, Jonathan Chait, of New York magazine, took the “liberal media” to task for having rushed to repudiate “the lab-leak theory”—the idea that COVID-19 may have its origins in a research institute in Wuhan, China. The theory, Chait wrote, has recently “gained more and more credibility,” in sharp contrast to last year, when many mainstream journalists dismissed it “out of hand as a conspiracy theory”; in part, “they were deceived by some especially voluble public-health experts. In part, they simply took Donald Trump’s bait, answering the former president’s dissembling with false certainty of their own.” Trump and various right-wing boosters blurred together the possibility that COVID may accidentally have escaped from the lab and the unhinged idea that China released it intentionally as a bioweapon; in story after story, the press, Chait argued, tarred both notions with the same brush of condemnation, asserting as fact that COVID was natural in origin, and that suggestions to the contrary were unscientific, “debunked,” even racist. But COVID’s true origins are unknown, and news outlets, Chait wrote, ought to have “erred on the side of uncertainty” over dogma. “The lab-leak hypothesis may well turn out to be wrong,” he argued—but that won’t make all the hasty rebuttals right. Since Chait wrote, we’ve seen a gusher of opinion essays in the same vein, indicting the mainstream press and prominent experts for characterizing a plausible hypothesis as a conspiracy theory... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-06-02 12:40:56 UTC ]
Last week, Jonathan Chait, of New York magazine, took the “liberal media” to task for having rushed to repudiate “the lab-leak theory”—the idea that COVID-19 may have its origins in a research institute in Wuhan, China. The theory, Chait wrote, has recently “gained more and more credibility,” in... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-06-02 12:40:56 UTC ]
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In mid-March, as the British government dragged its feet on implementing strict coronavirus lockdown measures that it would soon impose anyway, Patrick Vallance, the country’s chief scientific adviser, gave a series of interviews and discussed a concept with which many people were not then... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-10-21 12:30:20 UTC ]
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On Sunday, President Trump demanded that Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent, take a drug test ahead of (or just after) their first debate, which is tonight. “His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Only drugs could have caused this... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-09-29 12:19:19 UTC ]
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Four years after Sarah Kendzior forecasted Trump’s win, the bestselling author reflects on the rise of online propaganda, the need for transparent algorithms, and why social media is more dangerous than ever. Sarah Kendzior was a lone voice in the wilderness predicting the victory of Donald... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-11-28 09:00:16 UTC ]
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Al Jazeera isn’t exactly the media brand that comes to mind as a top choice for today’s news junkies. And yet, a year after its launch, Al Jazeera’s AJ+ offshoot has emerged as a huge success story, thanks largely to Fac ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Terms of Service ingeniously harnesses the power of comics to keep readers engaged.Terms of Service is a newly published digital graphic novel from Al Jazeera that explores the turbulent relationship technology users today have with services provided by big data companies.Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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