When the mainstream media world talks about the importance of balance, or "both sides of the story", what they are really doing is justifying also talking to the rape victim's attacker, to the cop who murdered the Black man, to the violent right wing in Venezuela, to the coup plotters, and to the company that... Continue Reading →
Facebook’s latest changes are great for its profits and bad for independent media
Mark Zuckerberg announced last week that Facebook would continue to de-prioritise shared public content like news, videos, and links and would favour “family and friend” content like personal photos and thoughts. He made out that “meaningful interactions” were at the core of the decision. But that's just thinly-disguised spin. Facebook isn't a social media company. It... Continue Reading →
The shady side to the fact checking trend (and alternative methods for sorting through the lies).
Since the lying, incompetent orange man became the Republican candidate in the US, then president, fact checking websites and other content have been trending. Fact checking has become a buzzword. Part of that comes down to US-centrism: after all, lying rich people are running most countries, as well as most of the transnationals that are... Continue Reading →
Writing for liberation exercise: news writing prompts
Here are some writing prompts for a story, poem, vignette, spoken word... taken from the current news. Rebel! Imagine! What would that be like? What could happen instead?Or what's the worst or best that can happen? A French police officer accidentally fired a gun during the president's speech. Then.. A woman who kept a £20... Continue Reading →