Social media companies use computer algorithms that track users’ content preferences and interests, and feed them content that aligns with those interests, consequently controlling what news people see on their feeds and creating echo chambers.
Less than two weeks into protests over the death of George Floyd and police brutality against African Americans, there have been more than 300 attacks on press freedom during coverage of the nationwide demonstrations.
After Twitter labeled a statement from President Trump for “glorifying violence,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his decision to leave Trump’s post undisturbed.
A new form of gotcha journalism targets everyday people rather than high-profile politicians with questions designed to elicit a newsworthy response. While most agree this approach erodes ethical journalism, media users love to hate it. The latest incident of viral gotcha journalism involves Kaitlin Bennet,
In the midst of growing pressure on technology companies to regulate political advertising ahead of the 2020 election, Google announced last week it will limit advertisers’ ability to micro-target users on the basis of their political affiliations.
Editor-in-Chief Celine Castronuovo, Podcast Director Michael Kohler, Editor-at-large Rob Cline and politics writer James Smathers relaunch The MediaPod series by discussing the media’s role in the impeachment process, the social media platform political ad wars, billionaires in the 2020 news cycle, and press freedom during recent military
This week, Apple’s new credit card is being investigated for an allegedly sexist credit algorithm. Last week, Netflix was facing criticism for limiting artistic freedom by removing an episode of Patriot Act, Hasan Minhaj’s talk show, that criticized the Saudi government. The ethical standard for
After Facebook unveiled a policy exempting political ads from being fact-checked and removed, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced last week the social media platform will be banning all political ads. The surprise announcement puts the two social media giants on opposite sides of the debate over combatting disinformation ahead of the 2020 election.
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign renewed its public feud with The New York Times on Wednesday in protest of its coverage of the Ukraine scandal. In a letter sent to Executive Editor Dean Baquet, Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield blasted The Times for lending legitimacy
The New York Times found itself in the news again last Thursday when it was widely criticized for publishing information about the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower’s identity. Within a few hours of the story going live, “#CancelNYT” was trending on Twitter and the wait time to cancel reader subscriptions had reportedly reached four hours.