Hot Topic - Media in the Russian Federation
Media outlets have forever offered a wide range of opinions to readers, listeners and viewers. This is no simple phenomenon like glaciers or icebergs. It’s a feature. Publishers - followed by broadcasters - defended even the most egregious as beneficial to open dialogue, all the while collecting from subscribers and advertisers. The digital age has turned this into a wild feeding frenzy. The remaining hopeful hold out for some sort of moral constraint. Sorry, it isn’t coming.
Autocrats and their minions want nothing more than to exact revenge, best if levered on lessor souls. They are empowered by revenge. Psychiatrists have tremendous insight on this behavior. So do criminologists.
Bickering over points of view is necessary for intellectual health. What makes for trusted sources of information is part of the same debate. Diplomats will often agree to disagree, maintaining trust in dialogue a key part of their work. When that dialogue breaks down, war commences and the adversaries seek every advantage. Speaking to the ages, the father of tragedy, Greek dramatist Aeschylus wrote: “In war, the first casualty is truth.” He long feared being killed by a falling object. He was.
Consensus does not come easily to journalists. Big questions, in particular, highlight the talents of those who earn their daily bread observing and sharing. No two sets of eyes, metaphorically, see exactly the same. This is a good thing. Small things, like punctuation, are no less debated. This, too, is just fine.
Journalist casualties always made headlines, whether specifically targeted with a bomb, gunshot or blade. In conflict zones, media workers are targeted by snipers honing in on those press flack jackets. Some also lose their lives with others, doing their jobs, taking notes and photos in crowded places, vehicles indiscriminately targeted by aggressors. These are war crimes.
Despite the rather made-for-TV portrayal as a bunch of itinerate nomads, journalists tend to stay put. There are personal reasons and professional. Their lives are typically centered around family and work, colleagues tend to share a lingua franca. Perhaps it’s the same with accountants. Employers are structurally locked in to offices, newsrooms, studios, not to forget transmitters and printing presses. The digital age has affected all this. So have despots.
The Russian Federation’s war on Ukraine is bloody and terrifying. People benefitting from free, independent news media are hearing the stories and seeing pictures in realtime. Others are mollified by a different reality.
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Media in Spain is steeped in tradition. yet challenged by diversity. Publishers hold great influence, broadcasters competing. New media has been slow to rise and business models for all are under stress. Rich in language and culture, Spain's media is reaching into the future and finding more than expected. 123 pages, PDF. January 2018
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Fake News, Hate Speech and Propaganda
The institutional threat of fake news, hate speech and propaganda is testing the mettle of those who toil in news media. Those three related evils are not new, by any means, but taken together have put the truth and those reporting it on the back foot. Words matter. This ftm Knowledge file explores that light. 48 pages, PDF (March 2017)
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