Category Archives: Media

Trump signs executive order to narrow protections for social media platforms

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Move comes amid president’s feud with Twitter after it fact-checked him for the first time

Donald Trump has fired a shot across the bows of “big tech” companies by signing an executive order that aims to narrow their protections from liability over the content posted on their services.

The move came as the US president stepped up his attacks against social media giants after Twitter fact-checked him for the first time over a false assertion that mail-in voting leads to widespread voter fraud.

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Trump expected to sign executive order in bid to target Twitter and Facebook

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  • Move could erode legal protections for social media platforms
  • Twitter placed warning on Trump tweets that spread falsehoods

Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that could erode legal protections for social media companies for content posted on their platforms, potentially opening them to liability claims over controversial content.

Related: Trump focuses on possible social media regulation as US coronavirus death toll passes milestone – live

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‘You lot can’t rattle me’: John Boyega defends explicit anti-racism posts in wake of George Floyd death

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The Star Wars actor expanded on his defiance of racist social media users in an Instagram Live video

John Boyega has been praised for a series of uncompromising social media posts speaking out about racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.

Boyega’s initial Tweet, “I really fucking hate racists”, currently has 1.3m likes, but came in for criticism for his hard-hitting tone and use of an expletive.

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Brazil police target key Bolsonaro supporters in fake news raids

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  • Carlos Bolsonaro, president’s son, reportedly a key member
  • Phones and computers seized from hardcore Bolsonaristas

Brazilian police have raided addresses linked to some of Jair Bolsonaro’s most ardent online cheerleaders as part of an investigation into a fake news network investigators reportedly suspect could be linked to the president’s son.

The operation’s targets were an eclectic and influential cast of hardcore Bolsonaristas including a former Femen activist-turned-anti-abortion-militant; a comic and musician whose repertoire includes a sexually explicit JK Rowling parody called “Harry Fucker”; a gun-toting, communist-bashing congressman; a hard-right blogger; and a multimillionaire retail magnate famed for placing giant replicas of the Statue of Liberty outside his stores.

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Trump threatens social media after Twitter puts warning on his false claims

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  • Twitter added warning on tweets that spread falsehoods
  • President vows to ‘strongly regulate … or close them down’

Donald Trump has threatened to “strongly regulate” or close down social media platforms that do not meet his standards for ideological balance, a day after Twitter, for the first time, slapped a warning label on a pair of Trump tweets spreading lies about mail-in voting.

Related: George Floyd killing: sister says police officers should be charged with murder

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Trump’s devoted new press secretary is no different from her predecessors | David Smith

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Kayleigh McEnany offered a straight-faced defence of Trump’s wildest conspiracy theories during a Tuesday briefing

“I will never lie to you,” declared Kayleigh McEnany on her debut as the White House press secretary at the start of the month. “You have my word on that.”

That would be a welcome change, reasoned critics of Donald Trump, but their hopes of a change in the way his administration communicates have been dashed.

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Spotify podcast deal could make Joe Rogan world’s highest paid broadcaster

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Streaming service must convince podcast listeners to switch from their favourite app

Joe Rogan, the comedian, MMA commentator and podcaster, may seem an unlikely prospect for becoming the world’s highest paid broadcaster. But after signing an exclusive deal with Spotify, that is what he may have become, marking a new era for podcasting in the process.

To much of the world, Rogan’s name is most associated with the periodic furores that erupt from the marathon interviews around which his podcast is structured.

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‘Incalculable loss’: New York Times covers front page with 1,000 Covid-19 death notices

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As US Covid-19 death toll nears 100,000, Times presents a tribute to some of the Americans to fall victim to the disease

As the US approaches the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, the New York Times has filled the entire front page of Sunday’s paper with the death notices of victims from across the country.

In a decision the paper said was intended to convey the vastness and variety of the tragedy, the front page is a simple list of names and personal details taken from obituaries around the US.

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BBC director general candidate accused in phone-hacking case

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Exclusive: Former newspaper executive Will Lewis allegedly played part in email deletions

The former senior newspaper executive William Lewis, on the shortlist to be the next director general of the BBC, has been accused of playing a part in the concealment and destruction of vast amounts of emails relating to phone hacking by the publisher of the Sun and News of the World, according to high court documents made public on Wednesday.

Lewis, who ended a six-year stint as the chief executive of the publisher of the Wall Street Journal this month, has been named in the case being lodged by about 50 alleged victims of phone hacking against the publisher News Group Newspapers. NGN is a subsidiary of News UK, which is run by Rebekah Brooks and ultimately controlled by Rupert Murdoch, through the parent company News Corporation.

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Matt Lauer lashes out at Ronan Farrow in wake of New York Times critique

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Former Today show host accuses Farrow of shoddy journalism in his Catch and Kill book as journalist responds that Lauer is ‘just wrong’

Matt Lauer has accused Ronan Farrow of shoddy and biased journalism in his book Catch and Kill, which included a rape accusation against the former Today show host that Lauer claims is false.

Farrow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer at the New Yorker, said Lauer “is just wrong”.

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‘Lie, lie, lie’: Former Jordan teammate gives withering assessment of The Last Dance

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  • Horace Grant says labels show ‘a so-called documentary’
  • Former NBA champion says Jordan often crossed the line

It appears that The Last Dance backlash has arrived. ESPN aired the final episode of the wildly popular Michael Jordan documentary on Sunday but one of the NBA superstar’s former teammates has already taken issue with the show.

Horace Grant, who won three titles alongside Jordan with the Chicago Bulls, said the documentary was edited to make Jordan look better. Some critics have pointed out that the fact that The Last Dance was co-produced by one of Jordan’s companies was glossed over.

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Ronan Farrow: master #MeToo reporter hit by surprise New York Times takedown

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Pulitzer-winning New Yorker journalist rejects claims from paper’s Ben Smith that work exhibits ‘shakiness at its foundations’

Ronan Farrow is no stranger to the rough and tumble of investigative journalism. His exposés on sexual abuse that helped to inspire the #MeToo movement have led to him to being trailed by private detectives employed by his most famous target – Harvey Weinstein – and to accusations from his former employer, NBC News, that he told “outright lies”.

Related: Shredded Trump documents and spy games: Ronan Farrow's biggest scoops

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How Trump has berated, insulted and demeaned female reporters – video

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Donald Trump abruptly halted a press conference on Monday after being challenged by two female reporters. The US president told Weijia Jiang, an Asian American journalist who works for CBS, to 'ask China' in response to her question over why he sees coronavirus testing as a global competition when more than 80,000 Americans have died. Trump then refused to respond to another White House reporter, CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

Trump has frequently clashed with journalists, but some have suggested a pattern is emerging in the way the president responds to being held to account by members of the press who are women, particularly those of color. Here's a look back at several key exchanges

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UK takes a pasting from world’s press over coronavirus crisis

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Across Europe to the US, the foreign newspaper verdict is Britain has performed badly

Britain’s reputation for its handling of the coronavirus epidemic has taken another global pasting after newspapers worldwide reported on what they described as confusion and internal divisions that are rapidly creating a crisis as big as Brexit for the UK.

With many diplomats admitting that soft power reputations are being forged or destroyed during the pandemic, the European press in particular is taking time to point out that the UK is experiencing the worst death rate in Europe, revealing a National Health Service that is underfunded and underprepared.

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Conservation society clashes with Disney over missing historic letters

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Campaigners call for return of 1930s wording to Twentieth Century Fox Film Co former offices

Disney, titan of the media and entertainment world, has enraged a group of Londoners attempting to preserve one of Soho’s best-known squares. And the battle is over one word: “Fox”.

In the south-west corner of Soho Square stands Twentieth Century House, a grand emblem of the American film industry’s key role in this part of the city since 1937. It is now in the hands of Disney.

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Bangladeshi journalist is jailed after mysterious 53-day disappearance

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Campaigners warn Shafiqul Islam Kajol faces a lengthy sentence as his family worries about his exposure to Covid-19 in prison

Fifty-three days after he disappeared, Bangladeshi journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol turned up on Sunday in police custody at a border town 150 miles from where he had last been seen.

“I am alive,” he told his son by phone, the first time the family had heard his voice since his disappearance in early March, a day after a case was filed against him and 31 others under the country’s controversial new Digital Security Act.

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No 10 battles to regain control of lockdown messaging amid fierce criticism

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PM’s roadmap announcement thrown into chaos by newspaper headlines heralding significant easing

The government was on Thursday evening urgently trying to regain control of the next phase of the pandemic crisis as it faced fierce criticism and warnings that mixed messaging was priming the public to give up on the lockdown.

Related: PM will announce modest changes to UK lockdown, says Raab

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How coronavirus is dividing India – video explainer

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The spread of Covid-19 in India has been catastrophic for millions of its poorest and marginalised residents who are bearing the brunt of the world's biggest shutdown. Hannah Ellis-Peterson tells us how coronavirus and the lockdown is further dividing the country along class and religious lines

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Covid-19 could trigger ‘media extinction event’ in developing countries

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Critical reporting under threat as revenue losses leave independent news outlets hostage to government subsidies or whims of billionaires

Fake news laws and political interference along with growing financial pressures has left many independent media groups in developing countries fighting to survive during the pandemic.

News outlets around the world have faced measures to muzzle critical reporting in an environment that has already seen dozens of journalists harassed, arrested and censored by governments, according to editors and press freedom groups.

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Lord Sugar tweet broke UK advertising rules, says watchdog

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The Apprentice host is partner in firm whose teeth-whitening product he recommended

A tweet by Lord Sugar promoting a company set up by a winner of The Apprentice has broken the UK advertising rules.

In December, the 73-year-old host of the BBC television show posted a tweet encouraging people to buy a teeth whitening package as the “perfect Xmas gift”.

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