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MEDIA BITS AND BYTES — DECEMBER 23, 2025
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_ Mainstream media keeps Trump afloat _
Muslim! Commie! Anti-semite! Right wing cartoonists are going all-out
to bait NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani., A.F. Branco
* The Case of the Missing _60 Minutes_ Segment
* The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI
* Monopolization and Movies
* Australia’s Social Media Ban
* Women Under Attack — Again
* Digital Sewer Socialism
* Palestine Movement Outsmarts Algorithms
* Cartoonists vs Mamdani
* Will Podcasts Replace Daytime Talk?
* Media, Marxism and McChesney
THE CASE OF THE MISSING _60 MINUTES_ SEGMENT
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By Edward Helmore, _The Guardian_
“60 Minutes” abruptly pulled a segment Sunday on the Trump
administration deporting hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a
megaprison in El Salvador, around two hours before it was to set to
air. For days, CBS had been promoting the segment, “Inside CECOT,”
on “brutal and torturous conditions” inside El Salvador’s
Terrorism Confinement Center.
THE REVERSE CENTAUR’S GUIDE TO CRITICIZING AI
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By Cory Doctorow, _Medium_
Creating a viable metaverse is the secondary goal. The primary goal is
to keep the market convinced that your company will continue to grow,
and to remain convinced until the next bubble comes along. So this is
why they’re hyping AI: the material basis for the hundreds of
billions in AI investment.
MONOPOLIZATION AND MOVIES
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By Joseph M. Singer, _Deadline_
Any acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery by Netflix or Paramount
would harm competition, consumers, workers, regional economies,
America’s trade balance, and U.S. cultural influence abroad. This is
a threat to a competitive marketplace — and a democratic cultural
ecosystem — so severe it would echo across the economy for decades.
AUSTRALIA’S SOCIAL MEDIA BAN
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By Kevin Rennie, _Global Voices_
After months of anticipation and debate, Australia’s social media
ban is now in force. Young Australians under 16 are unable to have an
account on some social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok
and Facebook. Many countries are already considering following
Australia’s lead.
WOMEN UNDER ATTACK — AGAIN
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By John Knefel, _Media Matters_
The campaign to roll back decades of material gains for women is
coming from both the gutter sexists and the would-be high-brow
elements of the conservative media world, and it could serve as a
rallying point for an increasingly fractured MAGA movement.
DIGITAL SEWER SOCIALISM
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By Ben Tarnoff, _Jacobin_
With the rise of AI slop and overall “enshittification,” it is
increasingly the case that the internet is failing to address the
public’s needs. What we need is sewer socialism for the digital
realm — and it can start at the municipal level.
PALESTINE MOVEMENT OUTSMARTS ALGORITHMS
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By Farah Awadalla, _Waging Nonviolence_
In response to systematic censorship by Meta and other platforms,
Palestinians and their allies have built an innovative new playbook of
tactics to beat the algorithm.
CARTOONISTS VS MAMDANI
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By Hank Kennedy, _FAIR_
Right-wing cartoonists waged a relentless campaign to tar Zohran
Mamdani as a dangerous extremist and religious radical, but were
unable to hoodwink the electorate. Nevertheless, their images served
to normalize both Islamophobia and red-baiting–a negative
achievement that will make actually governing a diverse city that much
more difficult.
WILL PODCASTS REPLACE DAYTIME TALK?
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By Amanda Silberling, _Techcrunch_
Netflix signed deals with iHeartMedia and Barstool Sports this week,
in addition to a recent deal with Spotify, to gain exclusive video
rights to select shows. Podcasters see this as an offensive move with
YouTube as the primary target. This threatens to shift our culture
away from watching programmatic daytime TV and talk shows and toward
watching podcasts.
MEDIA, MARXISM AND MCCHESNEY
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By Matthew Rothschild, _Monthly Review_
It is not hard to see the throughlines of Robert McChesney’s
scholarship and his activism. He understood that runaway capitalism
was a disaster and totally incompatible with democracy. He grasped the
crucial role that the corporate media play in maintaining the system.
As a result, he and John Nichols helped organize a media reform
movement.
* CBS News
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* 60 Minutes
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* Bari Weiss
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* artificial intelligence
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* NETFLIX
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* paramount
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* monopolies
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* Australia
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* social media
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* Women
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* Conservatives
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* sewer socialism
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* Internet
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* Palestine
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* Palestine solidarity
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* algorithms
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* Zohran Mamdani
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* cartoonists
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* podcasting
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* IHeartMedia
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* YouTube
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* Robert McChesney
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