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MEDIA BITS AND BYTES — OCTOBER 14, 2025
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October 14, 2025
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_ Free press showdown _
, Hassan (Iran)
* Why Has the Media Become So Vulnerable?
* Pope Leo to Journalists
* Google, Apple: No Eyes on ICE
* A Librarian’s Guide to Fighting Book Bans
* From Dan Rather to Bari Weiss
* ChatGPT: Usage Up, But So is Skepticism
* Wide World of AI
* Nexstar and Sinclair: MAGA’s Little Helpers
* Low Power Radio to the Rescue
* Are We Ready for Humanoids?
WHY HAS THE MEDIA BECOME SO VULNERABLE?
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By Robert Reich
robertreich.substack.com
Today’s media ecosystem is far more vulnerable to authoritarianism
than it was decades ago. Three structural changes in our political
economy have made it so: media concentration, control by the 1%, and
shareholder capitalism. When and if We the People are ever back in
charge, not only do we have to protect freedom of speech from
demagoguery, but we must also reverse these underlying trends.
POPE LEO TO JOURNALISTS
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By Tom Kington
Sunday Times of London
“Artificial intelligence is changing the way we receive information
and communicate, but who directs it and for what purposes?”
said Leo, who has repeatedly highlighted the dangers of AI. He also
warned against websites posting “clickbait” articles to boost
their audience at the cost of publishing serious news.
GOOGLE, APPLE: NO EYES ON ICE
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By Tom Williams
Information Age
Apple and Google have removed mobile apps designed to record sightings
of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from
their respective app stores. The technology giants removed the apps
earlier this month after US Attorney General Pam Bondi said such
services had “put ICE agents at risk" of violence from members of
the public.
A LIBRARIAN’S GUIDE TO FIGHTING BOOK BANS
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By Andrew Gooding-Call
Current Affairs
Right-wingers have been getting books removed from shelves across the
United States. But they’re a fringe minority of weirdos, and they
can be beaten. Here’s how.
FROM DAN RATHER TO BARI WEISS
• HOW FAR CBS NEWS HAS FALLEN
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By Sophia Tesfaye, Salon
• CHEERLEADER FOR GENOCIDE
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By Ryan Grim, Drop Site
• WRITERS GUILD CAUTIONS CBS NEWS STAFFERS
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By Todd Spangler, Variety
CHATGPT: USAGE UP, BUT SO IS SKEPTICISM
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By Felix M. Simon
Nieman Lab
The generative AI wave isn’t coming — it’s already here, and
it’s reshaping how the public finds information. The public is
increasingly fluent in AI and happy to embrace this technology but at
the same time deeply ambivalent about its role in the news, creating a
critical challenge for newsrooms navigating a rapidly changing
environment.
THE WIDE WORLD OF AI
• WAR
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Tom Valovic, Common Dreams
• EDUCATION
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Hart-Landsberg, Socialist Project
• DISINFO
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By Bobby Allyn, NPR
• THE MIDTERMS
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By Nathan Sanders and Bruce Schneier, The American Prospect
NEXSTAR AND SINCLAIR: MAGA’S LITTLE HELPERS
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By Pete Tucker
FAIR
In dropping Jimmy Kimmel’s show, Nexstar and Sinclair were
flexing in once unimaginable ways in part because they have grown
unimaginably big over the past two decades.
Today, Nexstar and Sinclair together own around 25% of
all ABC affiliates. And combined with Gray, the third-largest
station group, they own around 40% of all local stations nationwide.
LOW POWER RADIO TO THE RESCUE
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By Lucy Schiller
Columbia Journalism Review
Low-power stations are hyperlocal and as varying as the wind,
concerned with community voices, emergency notifications, and local
information. Now, against the backdrop of funding cuts to public
media, they emerge as a source of inspiration.
ARE WE READY FOR HUMANOIDS?
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By Rebecca Szkutak
TechCrunch
There are numerous humanoid companies that are starting to take orders
and gather interest in their robots. K-Scale Labs received more than
100 preorders for its humanoid bot in the first five days, surprising
even the founders.
* media
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* Authoritarianism
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* Pope Leo XIV
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* Journalists
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* Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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* Google
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* Apple
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* Book Banning
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* librarians
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* CBS News
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* Bari Weiss
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* The Free Press
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* Palestine
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* Writers Guild of America
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* ChatGBT
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* artificial intelligence
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* Militarism
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* Education
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* disinformation
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* 2026 Midterms
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* Nexstar
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* Sinclair Broadcast Group
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* Make America Great Again
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* low power radio
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* humanoids
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INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT
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