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  2. August 2017

August 2017

Univision Says Lawsuit Over Deadspin Story Intended to Scare Journalists

A division of Univision Communications has sought to quickly defeat a defamation lawsuit brought over an article published on the sports website Deadspin, saying the complaint is intended to intimidate journalists. Gizmodo Media Group, the Univision unit that runs Deadspin and other blogs the company acquired in 2016 from Gawker Media, filed court papers Aug 21 in New York that seek to dispose of a lawsuit brought by Las Vegas oddsmaker RJ Bell who alleges a story critical of him and his website, Pregame, includes false and libelous statements. Bell is seeking at least $10 million. The article, “How America’s Favorite Sports Betting Expert Turned a Sucker’s Game Into an Industry”, was published in June 2016, months before Univision purchased Gawker Media blogs in a bankruptcy auction.

Lawyers for Gizmodo Media Group argue the sale and Gawker Media’s chapter 11 liquidation plan shield the company and the author of the story, freelance reporter Ryan Goldberg, who has been sued individually. “This meritless lawsuit should not have been brought in the first place and it is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate journalists,” said Gizmodo Media Group spokesman David Ford. Goldberg said in a statement that his article was the result of a monthslong investigation and that allowing the lawsuit to proceed “will chill my work and threaten investigative reporting by freelance journalists across the country.”

Why It's So Hard to Define What Online Hate Speech Is

Arbitrating the bounds of acceptable content on global tech platforms is an enormous task. Roughly 400 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube each minute. Facebook has more than 2 billion users posting updates, comments, and videos. Increasingly, these companies rely on software. Facebook-owned Instagram recently introduced an algorithm to zap comments from trolls. Both YouTube and Facebook have deployed software to filter terrorism-related content. YouTube delivers anti-ISIS content to users searching for ISIS-related videos with a tool known as the Redirect Method. Facebook says it can identify and wipe out clusters of users that might have terrorist ties. But the software remains imperfect, and so people are almost always involved, too.

August 22, 2017 (Jerry Lewis, Dick Gregory)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2017
Jerry Lewis, Mercurial Comedian and Filmmaker, Dies at 91 [links to New York Times]
Dick Gregory, 84, Dies; Found Humor in the Civil Rights Struggle [links to New York Times]

CHARLOTTESVILLE/FREE SPEECH
   How Hate Groups Forced Online Platforms to Reveal Their True Nature - NYT analysis
   Boston ‘free speech’ rally ends early amid flood of counterprotesters; 27 people arrested
   Why the ACLU is adjusting its approach to “free speech” after Charlottesville
   Why the alt-right can’t build an alt-internet [links to Benton summary]
   Despite Disavowals, Leading Tech Companies Help Extremist Sites Monetize Hate [links to Benton summary]

COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
   Enough is Enough - LA Times editorial
   Voter suppression is the civil rights issue of this era - WaPo editorial [links to Benton summary]
   President Trump blasts 'dishonest Fake News reporting' as he ends vacation [links to Benton summary]

ELECTIONS 2020
   Trump ramping up for 2020 reelection, reportedly eyeing Zuckerberg as a threat [links to Benton summary]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Remarks of FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly Before the Americans for Prosperity's 2017 Defending the American Dream Summit - speech [links to Benton summary]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   Head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement: We don’t use stingrays to locate undocumented immigrants [links to Benton summary]
   Online Sleuths Are Outing Racists, But Should They? [links to Benton summary]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   President Trump to Deliver First Primetime Policy Speech Aug 21 [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Highly ideological members of Congress have more Facebook followers than moderates do - Pew research [links to Benton summary]

ADVERTISING
   Why Tech Giants Like Google and Amazon Are Spending Big On TV Ads - MediaPost analysis [links to Benton summary]

TELEVISION
   Crowded TV Marketplace Gets Ready for Three Tech Giants [links to New York Times]
   The very dirty history of on-demand video technology [links to Ars Technica]

CONTENT
   Supreme Court asked to nullify the Google trademark [links to Benton summary]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Verizon Gigabit LTE Trial Breaks the Gigabit Speed Barrier [links to telecompetitor]

JOURNALISM
   Boston authorities should not have blocked media from covering protest - CJR op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Digital media veteran Ross Levinsohn takes over the LA Times as it fires top editors [links to Vox]
   Breitbart has lost nearly 2,600 advertisers [links to Hill, The]
   Behind the unlikely success of PolitiFact and the Truth-O-Meter [links to Columbia Journalism Review]

OWNERSHIP
   Can Anyone Stop Trump’s FCC From Approving a Conservative Local News Empire?

POLICYMAKERS
   Behind the Bluster of Steve Bannon’s War Cry - NYT analysis
   Bannon: 'The Trump Presidency That We Fought For, and Won, Is Over.' [links to Weekly Standard]
   Stephen Bannon’s Path From Breitbart to the West Wing, and Back [links to New York Times]

DIVERSITY
   Machines Taught By Photos Learn a Sexist View of Women [links to Wired]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Cambridge University Press Bows to China Censors [links to CNN]

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CHARLOTTESVILLE/.FREE SPEECH

HOW HATE GROUPS FORCED ONLINE PLATFORMS TO REVEAL THEIR TRUE NATURE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Herrman]
The recent rise of all-encompassing internet platforms promised something unprecedented and invigorating: venues that unite all manner of actors — politicians, media, lobbyists, citizens, experts, corporations — under one roof. These companies promised something that no previous vision of the public sphere could offer: real, billion-strong mass participation; a means for affinity groups to find one another and mobilize, gain visibility and influence. This felt and functioned like freedom, but it was always a commercial simulation. This contradiction is foundational to what these internet companies are. These platforms draw arbitrary boundaries constantly and with much less controversy — against spammers, concerning profanity or in response to government demands. These fringe groups saw an opportunity in the gap between the platforms’ strained public dedication to discourse stewardship and their actual existence as profit-driven entities, free to do as they please. Despite their participatory rhetoric, social platforms are closer to authoritarian spaces than democratic ones. It makes some sense that people with authoritarian tendencies would have an intuitive understanding of how they work and how to take advantage of them.
benton.org/headlines/how-hate-groups-forced-online-platforms-reveal-their-true-nature | New York Times
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BOSTON 'FREE SPEECH' RALLY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Wesley Lowery, Christina Pazzanese]
Tens of thousands of counterprotesters crammed Boston Common and marched through city streets Aug 19 in efforts to drown out the planned “free speech” rally that many feared would be attended by white-supremacist groups. By 1 pm, the handful of rally attendees had left the Boston Common pavillion, concluding their event without planned speeches. A victorious cheer went up among the counterprotesters, as many began to leave. Hundreds of others danced in circles and sang, “Hey hey, ho ho. White supremacy has got to go.” City officials said that at least 40,000 people participated in the counter protest, 20,000 of whom participated in a march across town. Tensions flared as police escorted some rally attendees out of the Common, prompting several physical altercations between police and counterprotesters. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said there were 27 arrests, primarily for disorderly conduct. He said no officers or protesters were injured and there was no property damage. Evans said there were three groups of people in attendance: attendees of the “free speech” rally, counter protesters, and a small group of people who showed up to cause trouble.
benton.org/headlines/boston-free-speech-rally-ends-early-amid-flood-counterprotesters-27-people-arrested | Washington Post | NPR
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ACLU ADJUSTING FREE SPEECH APPROACH AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLES
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Dara Lind]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had sued the city of Charlottesville (VA) to allow the Unite the Right rally to happen downtown. And now, it had happened, and blood had been spilled. The backlash has already spurred other ACLU chapters to declare that they don’t believe free-speech protections apply to events like the one in Charlottesville, and led the ACLU’s national director, Anthony Romero, to declare the group will no longer defend the right to protest when the protesters want to carry guns.The Charlottesville rally called attention to an important fault line between the ACLU’s traditional vision of justice and the way the progressive grassroots movement sees justice in 2017: a fight over whether the best way to protect the powerless is to stand against the principles that could be used to crush them, or simply to stand on the side of people seeking social equality by whatever means are necessary.
benton.org/headlines/why-aclu-adjusting-its-approach-free-speech-after-charlottesville | Vox
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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] These are not normal times. The man in the White House is reckless and unmanageable, a danger to the Constitution, a threat to our democratic institutions. Republicans and conservatives around the country should be just as concerned as Democrats about President Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest, his campaign’s relationship with the Russians and whether he engaged in obstruction of justice. They should call him out when he sows division, when he dog-whistles, when he emboldens bigots. They should stand up for global human rights, for constructive engagement with the rest of the world and for other shared American values that transcend party allegiances.
benton.org/headlines/enough-enough | Los Angeles Times
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OWNERSHIP

CAN ANYONE STOP FCC FROM SINCLAIR APPROVAL?
[SOURCE: Public Square Media, AUTHOR: John LIght]
President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission, under chairman Ajit Pai, has been clearing the way for a merger between Sinclair Broadcasting and Tribune Media, two television companies that together own hundreds of local news stations. However, the situation may soon become more complicated for Sinclair and its ally at the FCC. The company’s competitors, such as DishTV, are speaking out. Perhaps more important to the Trump administration are other conservative news outlets, who, recognizing the threat that Sinclair could pose to their business, are taking a stand. As this crony capitalist drama plays out, watchdog groups, meanwhile, are looking for holes in the Trump administration’s approach.
benton.org/headlines/can-anyone-stop-trumps-fcc-approving-conservative-local-news-empire | Public Square Media
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POLICYMAKERS

BEHIND BLUSTER OF BANNONS WAR CRY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
In a conversation with Peter J. Boyer of The Weekly Standard, Steve Bannon said, “I have my hands back on my weapons,” the most important being his conservative website, Breitbart News — a “machine” he promised to “rev up” for what the site’s editor-at-large Joel Pollak described in a hashtag on Twitter as “#War.” The reported target list included President Trump’s opponents “on Capitol Hill, in the media and in corporate America,” Bannon said. If Bannon does move forward with a rival to Fox News, he will face the herculean task required to get a new channel onto cable systems, especially as people increasingly give up cable for online streaming services. If he were to acquire an existing channel, he would still have to persuade cable operators to carry it as Breitbart TV. Bannon could team up with smaller competitors on cable, Newsmax or One America News Network. This much is certain: With Bannon out, expect more informational chaos, more sound and more fury, but signifying what?
benton.org/headlines/behind-bluster-steve-bannons-war-cry | New York Times
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Why the alt-right can’t build an alt-internet

One of the biggest pressure points for anti-racist activists right now is domain registrars like GoDaddy, which sell addresses that point web users toward a site. While anyone can hook up a server to the internet, domain name sales are regulated by the multinational organization ICANN, which hands off management of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) to organizations called registries.

Registries can then sign contracts with ICANN-accredited registrars, which act as middlemen and sell domain names to the public. If registrars refuse to serve a site, the seemingly obvious solution — which several people have mentioned online — is to found your own “free speech” registrar. However, obvious isn’t the same thing as practical. ICANN usually takes a hands-off approach to moderating registrars’ content, and some registrars play host to unsavory spam and malware domains. But even if an alt-right registrar could get accredited, it probably wouldn’t be a profitable business.

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