News & Opinion

Media critics are telling journalists not to give former president Donald Trump’s press conference on January 6 prime coverage fearing that they will promote his lies concerning the insurrection and the 2020 election. New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen urges the networks to consider “the damage a demagogue can do to the public sphere, or the truth value of an event.” (salon, January 4, 2022, by Jessica Corbett) Rosen suggests that the media should

Democrats in the House of Representatives on proposing a bill to stop foreign-owned corporations from using their funds to influence elections in the U.S. After the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, there was been a surge of foreign money in U.S. elections. The ban on political contributions from foreign nationals would be extended to companies at least partially owned by foreign nationals. (The Hill, December 14, 2021, by Karl Evers-Hillstrom) The bill, introduced by

With the onslaught of digital advertising and government suppression, journalists around the world are face daunting challenges to keep their news rooms humming while reporting the truth. Last week, the joint recipients of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Mruatov of Russia joined with Mark Thompson, former New York Times CEO, to form the International Fund of Public Interest Media. The goal is to provide close to one

Four academicians report that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is unable to fulfill a request for data on the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in a timely way, with compliance taking 55 years. “That may sound absurd,” write the academicians “but if you’re experienced with FOIA requests to the FDA, as we are, the slow timeline is just more proof that the agency needs a proactive, well-funded data-sharing system to protect public trust and promote scientific