Sep 25, 2018
Naeemah Clark: How to Define 'Viewpoint Diversity' in a Polarized America (Ep. 155)
Are 'viewpoint diversity' and 'ethnic diversity' mutually exclusive? Elon University professor Naeemah Clark helps put 'viewpoint diversity' in perspective.
Bio
Naeemah Clark (@NaeemahC) is an Associate Professor of Communications at Elon University. Noticing a lack of diversity and unfair portrayal of marginalized groups in the media, Naeemah Clark pursues an interest in race and gender, economic status, disabilities, LGBTQIA and ethnicity in the media. She also studies and teaches about economic, programming and diversity issues related in the media and entertainment industries. She has edited the book, "African Americans in the History of U.S. Media," co-authored a textbook, "Diversity in U.S. Mass Media," published work in Journalism History, American Behavioral Scientist and has presented numerous papers at various conferences. She earned a B.A. in education from Florida State University, and her Masters and Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Florida.
Resources
Elon University School of Communications
Diversity in the U.S. Mass Media by Catherine Luther, Carolyn Ringer Lepre, and Naeemah Clark (Wiley Press, 2012)
News Roundup
Comcast beat out 21st Century Fox in bid for SkyTV
Comcast beat out Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox in its bid for UK cable provider Sky with a $40 billion offer. At 17.28 pounds per share, it tracks Sky’s share price which was trading at about 17.16 pounds per share Monday morning on the London Stock Exchange. This also takes Disney out of the running for Sky. Disney hoped to acquire Sky when it closes on its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets, which it won back in July for $71 billion and which includes 21st Century Fox’s 39% stake in Sky.
Feds weigh regulation of social media platforms
Bloomberg News reported that the White House is considering a draft order that would direct the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook and Google’s social media practices. The administration has repeatedly claimed the platforms are biased against conservative viewpoints. However, no similar measures to curtail broadcasters’ bias have surfaced, leaving one sector of a broader media ecosystem under attack, while traditional media are free to discriminate against differing viewpoints without restriction. For example, Sinclair Broadcasting’s commentators and talk radio hosts hold almost exclusively conservative viewpoints.
The Department of Justice is weighing a discussion with state attorneys general regarding the so-called “shadow banning” of conservative viewpoints at the National Association of Attorneys General meeting from November 27-29th in Charleston, South Carolina. And the Wall Street Journal also reported that, following the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban, Google employees discussed tweaking search results to inform users about how they might contribute to pro-immigration causes and counteract the effects of the ban. Google says it never implemented the changes.
Paypal stops doing business with Infowars
Paypal has stopped doing business with Alex Jones’ conspiracy website Infowars.
PayPal ended the relationship in an email saying InfoWars violated PayPal’s acceptable use policy by “promoting hate and discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions.”
Trump administration releases new cyber strategy
The Trump administration announced a new cyber strategy last week that’ll prioritize attacks against foreign adversaries. National Security Advisor Josh Bolton made it clear last week that the U.S. will focus on both offense and defense on a cyber front that has grown to be infinitely more complex since the 2016 presidential election.
Google says it allows third parties to share data from Gmail
As the Wall Street Journal reported last week, Google wrote a letter to Senators saying that it allows app developers to scan Gmail accounts for data, even though Google itself says that it no longer uses Gmail data for ad-targeting. App developers have ready access to valuable data about Gmail users’ buying preferences, whom they interact with, and other valuable psychometric data. But Google’s Vice President of public policy and government affairs wrote that the company only shares data with third parties who agree to be fully transparent.
Sen. Wyden’s office discovers targeted Gmail attacks against members of Congress
Foreign hackers are targeting senators’ Gmail accounts. That’s according to a letter Senate Democrat Ron Wyden wrote to senate leaders last week, which was subsequently confirmed by Google spokesman Aaron Stein who said that his company informed Senator Wyden of the breach attempts. Neither Wyden nor Google confirmed details of which members the hackers are targeting or how. But Wyden is calling for rule changes that would empower the Sergeant-at-Arms to protect members’ personal email accounts.
New York Times sues FCC over Russian influence in net neutrality proceeding
The New York Times has sued the Federal Communications Commission in the Southern District of New York to determine the extent of Russian meddling in the net neutrality proceeding. Of the record 22 million commenters in the proceeding to overturn the 2015 net neutrality rules, some 450,000 had Russian email addresses. But the New York Times also wants IP addresses, timestamps, and user-agent headers to gain a fuller understanding of how Russians interfered with the proceeding.
Federal Judge keeps electronic touch screen machines in place in Georgia
A federal judge in Georgia denied a motion that would have required Georgia to switch from electronic touch screens to paper ballots. Judge Amy Totenberg found that switching to paper ballots on such short notice would have a worse effect on the November election than the touch screens would.
Facebook to team with anti-fake news nonprofits
Facebook has announced that it will be teaming up with the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute -- two anti-propaganda nonprofits on the left and right -– as the company continues to battle fake news ahead of Brazilian elections in October and the U.S. November midterms. Facebook announced the partnership as new research found that 3 out of 4 articles being shared about the Brazil election are false. Joseph Menn has the story at Reuters.
Sirius XM to acquire Pandora
Finally, in a $3.5 billion deal, satellite broadcaster Sirius XM will be acquiring internet streaming service Pandora in an all-stock transaction, according to a company announcement on Monday. The deal will combine Sirius XM’s 36 million subscribers with Pandora’s 70 million, with projected revenue for this year of $7 billion.