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MEDIA BITS AND BYTES – NO FOOLING  
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April 1, 2025
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_ Tech for the global majority _

Big Bird spotted working at local Starbucks after PBS cuts. Credit,
The Onion

 

* NYC: Socialist Candidate’s Media Strategy
* Oscars Support _No Other Land_ Co-Director (Finally) 
* Signalgate: Anatomy of a Chat
* OpenAI Loosens Access to Hateful Images
* Book Publishers on the Far Right
* Trump’s Own Public Enemy
* A Rumble in the Tech Jungle
* Tech for the Global Majority
* How to Support Striking Video Game Actors
* Remembering Robert McChesney

NYC: SOCIALIST CANDIDATE’S MEDIA STRATEGY
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By Mark Chiusano 
_Politico_

Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist and upstart NYC
mayoral candidate, is comfortable taking stages stuffier politicians
wouldn’t. The performer’s approach to modern mediums has paid off
in massive fundraising wins. He beat the whole Democratic primary
field in his first filing period and now boasts 17,000-plus
contributors.

OSCARS SUPPORT _NO OTHER LAND_ CO-DIRECTOR (FINALLY)
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By Benjamin Lindsay
_The Wrap_

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apologized Friday for
withholding explicit support for the Oscar-winning co-director of
documentary “No Other Land” Hamdan Ballal after he was beaten and
detained in the West Bank last week. The organization had sent an
email to its members, but failed to name the documentary’s title or
Ballal’s name, sparking a backlash from members.

ANATOMY OF A CHAT
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By Luke Winnie
_Slate_

By now you know that several members of the Trump
administration unwittingly leaked high-level discussions about
military strikes against Yemen to the Atlantic. Reading through
the full transcript released Wednesday, it became clear to me that
beyond a secretive attack-planning committee, the dynamics of the
discussion reminded me of the typical boys group chat.

OPENAI LOOSENS ACCESS TO HATEFUL IMAGES
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By Maxwell Jeff
_TechCrunch_

OpenAI launched a new image generator in ChatGPT, which quickly went
viral for its ability to create Studio Ghibli-style images. It also
changed content moderation policies, which now allow ChatGPT to, upon
request, generate images depicting public figures, hateful symbols,
and racial features. OpenAI previously rejected these types of
prompts for being too controversial or harmful.

BOOK PUBLISHERS ON THE FAR RIGHT
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By Amanda Crocker
_Jacobin_

The publishers that dominate the book trade have all created special
imprints that cater to ultraconservative readers. They don’t want
their brands associated with racism and misogyny, but they’re happy
to profit from this growing ideological niche.

Trump’s Own Public Enemy
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By Adam Gabbatt
_The Guardian_

The anti-media rhetoric has ramped up from Trump officials, Trump
has suggested some media groups should be “illegal”, funding has
been cut from organisations like Voice of America and last week the
White House lambasted journalist Jeffrey Goldberg and the Atlantic
magazine for breaking a scoop about national security lapses on a
Signal messaging app.

A RUMBLE IN THE TECH JUNGLE
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By Yasmin Curzi de Mendonça and Camille Grenier
_The Conversation_

A global struggle over digital platform governance is brewing. And in
this battle, U.S. platforms are increasingly leaning on American laws
to challenge other nation’s regulations. It is, we believe as
experts on digital law – one an executive director of a forum
monitoring how countries implement democratic principles – a form
of digital imperialism.

TECH FOR THE GLOBAL MAJORITY
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By Burcu Kilic and Renata Avila
_Progressive International_

Tech CEOs’ alignment with Trump reflects not ideology but a bid to
expand their surveillance capitalist empires, exposing the misplaced
trust in Big Tech as defenders of democracy. With Silicon Valley
poised to exploit global trade policies under Trump, urgent,
coordinated action is needed to resist digital dependency and reclaim
tech sovereignty.

HOW TO SUPPORT STRIKING VIDEO GAME ACTORS
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By Jennifer Maas
_Variety_

The SAG-AFTRA strike against major video game companies has nearly
reached the 250-day mark and there’s no deal yet. And while nothing
seems to have changed from the outside, real progress is being made
behind the scenes.

REMEMBERING ROBERT MCCHESNEY
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By Amy Goodman and John Nichols
_Democracy Now!_

Robert McChesney, co-founder of the advocacy group Free Press,
tireless defender of media and democracy, died at the age of 72. Bob
McChesney was a prolific author of nearly three dozen books on media,
democracy and digital rights, including _Rich Media, Poor Democracy_,
a beloved professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

* Zohran Mamdani
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* New York City
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* Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal
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* No Other Land
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* Oscars
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* Yemen
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* Signalgate
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* OpenAI
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* ChatGBT
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* book publishers
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* far right
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* Donald Trump
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* media
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* Technology
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* Global South
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* video game actors
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* strike
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* SAG-AFTRA
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* Robert McChesney
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* Duncan Crabtree-Ireland
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