Peter Bale - curated media, journalism, and related technology news - Issue #12
A bit of a bears in the woods story but it fits my narrative that totalitarian states are experts at attacking the soft underbelly of our infatuation with social media and the Ayn Rand-ish tech bro idea that the answer to bad conversation is good conversation. They lap it up and exploit it.
The importance of accurate information in a pandemic is clear and yet Indian authorities repeatedly suppress the truth and spread disinformation to fend off the obvious, that Modi has utterly failed on Covid-19.
It seems to me the AP has behaved appallingly to this young reporter. She did make some comments about objectivity in tweets while employed but the agency has let her down and all of the rest of its staff. A precedent has been set for external bullying being successful.
I'm including this for entertainment value really. Cummings cut a ridiculous figure with his wild gestures, eye-rolling, and intellectual arrogance. Much of his evidence was effectively in the public domain and as someone said, he effectively created the climate where facts just don't matter.
Marina called it right the day before: the ludicrous performative hand grenade gesture is straight out of The Office or The Thick of It. Cummings is a cardboard cutout of himself.
A small subscription-only political site Politik.co.nz, led by veteran political reporter Richard Harman, broke this story earlier in the week. The government is trying to shut down any conversation about it on national security grounds which is exactly why much more reporting is needed. This was effectively Chinese infiltration at the highest levels. Or was it?
Government starts process from scratch, allowing PM’s favoured candidate second chance at job
Instead of accepting that Dacre is an unemployable troll, the government tries to change the entire process to get its way. Standby for years of efforts to undermine the BBC, and fake challenges to big tech.