DOCSLIB.ORG

Digging Into Companies and Economic Data

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Digging Into Companies and Economic Data DRUG WARS CAUGHT REFORMING FOI Documenting the violence Off-duty police officers Open records laws The in Juarez driving reckless speeds at a crossroads P. 1 9 P. 1 6 P. 2 1 Journal SPRING 2012 Make It Your Business Digging into companies and economic data p. 7 IRE AWARDwinners ENTER TODAY! BARLETT & STEELE AWARDS for INVESTIGATIVE BUSINESS Deadline: Aug. 1, 2012 JOURNALISM GOLD AWARD: $5,000 SILVER AWARD: $2,000 BRONZE AWARD: $1,000 APPLY AT BUSINESSJOURNALISM.ORG FREE TRAINING in Investigative Business Journalism June 13, BOSTON: Follow the Money – Tracking Companies’ Influence on Politics, with New York Times reporter Ron Nixon. Before IRE. June 15, BOSTON: Investigating Public Pensions, with Barlett & Steele Gold Award winner Craig Harris of The Arizona Republic. During IRE. Oct. 6, MISSOULA, Mont.: Be a Better Business Watchdog – CAR for Business Journalists, with IRE Training Director Jaimi Dowdell. Register at BusinessJournalism.org. Donald W.W. ReynoldsReynolds Andrew Leckey, President National CenterCenterforfor [email protected] Business JournalismJournalism 602-496-9186 TWITTER: @BIZJOURNALISM • FACEBOOK: BIZJOURNALISM Tell the readers Entries must have been published online or in print in the year ending something they don’t know.” June 30, 2012. — Don Barlett and Jim Steele,two-time Pulitzer winners The Journal SPRING 2012 4 ENOUGH ALREADY By Mark Horvit 5 IRE NEWS Make It Your 7 IRE AWARDS 16 ABOVE THE LAW Off-duty police caught driving from 90 to 130 mph By Sally Kestin and John Maines Sun Sentinel Business 19 IRE INTERNATIONAL Digging into companies Covering the violence in Juárez: Challenges and tools By Sandra Rodríguez and economic data El Diario de Juárez 21 FOI FILES Journalists should seek 22-31 FOI reforms By Charles N. Davis Missouri School of Journalism 32 COLLECTED WISDOM Doing great work requires a focus By Rose Ciotta The Philadelphia Inquirer 22 FINDING LOCAL DATA: 29 INVESTIGATING How to turn the numbers into PRIVATE COMPANIES 34 SNAPSHOTS FROM meaningful stories A quick and dirty guide OUR BLOGS By David Cay Johnston By Chris Roush University of North Carolina Reuters 26 IKEA 30 BACKGROUNDING Made in Sweden A BUSINESS By Magnus Svenungsson Quick tips on finding SVT (Swedish Television) public records and more By Jaimi Dowdell IRE Training Director THE IRE JOURNAL 3 The FROM THE IRE OFFICES Journal Enough already SPRING 2012 BY MARK HORVIT Volume 35 | Number 2 MANAGING EDITOR hen I started working for IRE in January 2008, cutbacks in the news industry were the theme of Megan Luther W the day. It wasn’t long before I began getting what I started thinking of as The Call. It came from a variety of sources: journalists working on stories for trade publications, academics ART DIRECTOR Wendy Gray working on research, students working on final papers. It started this way: “I’m working on an article/ research project/class paper about the decline of investigative journalism. …” CONTRIBUTING LEGAL EDITOR And they waited expectantly for me to start weeping, blubber about the End of Everything and fold David Smallman into a fetal ball. EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE I understood, of course, why so many people wanted to have that conversation. Scores of jobs have AND STORY EDITOR been lost in our industry in the past few years, and investigative reporters accounted for plenty of Aaron Cooper those. So I talked about the losses. And I stressed that the problem went far beyond cuts to those with IRE “investigative” or “projects” in their titles. We were also losing too many statehouse reporters, city hall reporters, business reporters, sports reporters, arts reporters, etc., and many of those losses had a IRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR dramatic impact on investigative and enterprise journalism. The cumulative effect of fewer watchdogs Mark Horvit with notebooks and cameras is that more bad deeds go unreported. But even in the worst of times, I’d refer those callers to our website and our Extra-Extra blog, which BOARD OF DIRECTORS gives evidence every week of great investigative journalism being done around the country. And I’d PRESIDENT refer them to the list of winners and finalists for the IRE Awards, for more evidence of the same. And Manny Garcia El Nuevo Herald I’d talk about the small but growing trend of nonprofit investigative journalism that was filling some of the gap and making a major difference in many communities. VICE PRESIDENT For my first few years on the job, I expected those questions. But I’m still getting those calls – prob- Andrew Donohue voiceofsandiego.org ably half-a-dozen in the past four months. And really: Enough already. TREASURER It’s time to move on. Past time, really. David Cay Johnston Reuters I don’t see much benefit in dwelling on what we’ve lost. Instead, we ought to be looking at what’s working, the growing signs of renewal and the work that lies ahead. SECRETARY While we certainly haven’t turned the corner, we’re headed in the right direction. Want some evi- Sarah Cohen Duke University dence? - The nonprofit movement continues to grow and produce more high-impact journalism. Check out Robert Cribb The Toronto Star our website and the Investigative News Network’s site for plenty of examples. In fact, at this year’s IRE Conference, instead of multiple sessions on “alternative models” or the mere existence of “nonprofit Leonard Downie Jr. investigative journalism,” we made a deliberate decision to ask our colleagues at the nonprofit centers The Washington Post/Arizona State University to focus on their journalism. And at the annual INN day at the conference, instead of talking about how Josh Meyer to approach funders or how to start a center, we will discuss collaboration, risk management, digital Northwestern University tools – the kinds of things that established journalism organizations of all types should be thinking Aron Pilhofer about. The New York Times - A number of large news organizations are refocusing on – and investing in – investigative and en- Lea Thompson terprise journalism. There are new I-Teams being created in key TV markets from coast to coast. Ad- broadcast journalist/producer ditional computer-assisted reporting positions are being created (or revived) in newsrooms large and Mc Nelly Torres small. Newspapers that slashed their investigative teams are at least adding a position or two, and some Florida Center for Investigative Reporting are going much farther. - We’re seeing a steady increase in demand for IRE’s training. Gannett, McClatchy, Hearst and Scripps Matt Waite University of Nebraska-Lincoln are just four examples of large media corporations that have made companywide investment in train- ing, and many individual newsrooms, from small public radio stations to large metro newspapers, are Phil Williams WTVF-TV bringing our trainers in. I’m not saying everything is better now. It isn’t. Alison Young USA Today I’m not saying the cutting and the furloughs are over. They’re not. I’m not saying we don’t have a lot more work to do. We do. The IRE Journal (ISSN0164-7016) is published four times a year by Investigative Reporters & Editors, But there’s no point in dwelling on what we’ve lost. Our time is much better spent looking at those Inc., 141 Neff Annex, Missouri School of Journalism, who are working to rebuild, and how we’re refocusing on journalism that really matters. Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-2042. Email: journal@ ire.org. U.S. subscriptions are $70 for individuals, There are plenty of examples out there. $85 for libraries and $125 for institutions/businesses. International subscriptions are $90 for individuals and Give me a call. I’ll tell you all about them. $150 for all others. Periodical postage paid at Jefferson City, MO. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Mark Horvit is executive director of IRE and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting. He can be reached at IRE. USPS#451-670 [email protected] or 573-882-2042. © 2012 Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. 4 THE IRE JOURNAL IRE NEWS MEMBER NEWS IRE is pleased to welcome two new IRE members donate staff members Pulitzer Prize money Megan Luther joined us as training director in February. Megan has for training worked in radio, TV and most recently, newspapers. Before she joined IRE, Megan was a government reporter for the Argus Leader in South Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong both had Dakota and a computer-assisted reporting specialist for The Atlanta extraordinary resumes before winning the Pulitzer Journal-Constitution. Previously, she worked at IRE and NICAR in the Prize last week. Both reporters for The Seattle Database Library while completing her master’s degree at the University of Missouri. Times had produced investigations that won a long list of prizes, including multiple IRE awards. The Megan can be reached at [email protected]. work honored by the Pulitzer judges – “Methadone Elizabeth Lucas joined us in May as the new director of our National and the Politics of Pain” – had already been Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) Database Library. Liz honored many times. comes to IRE from the Center for Public Integrity, where she analyzed data for investigative projects on political, environmental and health topics. She previously worked in the Database Library while getting her So the fact that Berens and Armstrong won master’s degree at the University of Missouri. wasn’t a surprise. What they’re doing with the Liz can be reached at [email protected]. prize money, however, is extraordinary. They’ve dedicated the $10,000 prize to pay for IRE training Major collection of investigative reporting for fellow staffers in Seattle. ‘road maps’ now online A major new resource for journalists is available online for the first time.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Perelman, M. (2007). Some Economics of Class. in M. Yates (Ed.), More
    Perelman, M. (2007). Some economics of class. In M. Yates (ed.), More unequal: Aspects of class in the United States. New York: Monthly Review Press. How much more will be required before the U.S. public awakes from its political slumber? Tepid action in the workplace, the voting booth, and the streets have allowed the right wing to steamroll revolutionary changes that have remade the entire sociopolitical structure of the United States. Since the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, every Democratic administration with the exception of Lyndon Johnson's has been more conservative—often far more conservative—than the previous Democratic administration. Similarly, every elected Republican administration, with the single exception of George Herbert Walker Bush's, has been more conservative than the previous Republican administration. The deterioration in the distribution of income is a symptom of a far larger problem. Perhaps formulating the situation in the United States might help people understand their class interests as well as reveal who has benefited from the right-wing revolution. Critics of Marx have long taken pleasure in claiming that the rise of the middle class in the United States and other advanced capitalist economies disproves Marx's "predictions" of the course of capitalism. In recent decades, however, the distribution of income in the United States is coming to resemble that of many poor Latin American economies, with a shrinking middle class and an obscene share of wealth going to the richest members of society. Although proponents of the U.S. model pretend that recent economic trends represent a success, in truth they are signs of capitalism's failure.
    [Show full text]
  • Nelson V. Mcclatchy Newspapers: What Happens When Freedom of the Press Collides with Free Speech?
    University of Miami Law Review Volume 54 Number 2 Article 6 1-1-2000 Nelson v. McClatchy Newspapers: What Happens When Freedom of the Press Collides with Free Speech? Adam Horowitz Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr Part of the First Amendment Commons Recommended Citation Adam Horowitz, Nelson v. McClatchy Newspapers: What Happens When Freedom of the Press Collides with Free Speech?, 54 U. Miami L. Rev. 359 (2000) Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr/vol54/iss2/6 This Casenote is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Miami Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CASENOTE Nelson v. McClatchy Newspapers: What Happens When Freedom of the Press Collides with Free Speech? I. INTRODUCTION On May 8, 1997, the Supreme Court of Washington decided Nelson v. McClatchy Newspapers.1 The Court determined that a state law prohibiting employment discrimination based upon an employee's polit- ical conduct could not be constitutionally applied to newspaper publishers.2 This case presented a conflict between two well-established, but polar principles in First Amendment jurisprudence.3 The plaintiff, for- mer Tacoma News Tribune (hereinafter referred to as "the Tribune") reporter Sandra Nelson, argued that the free press has "no special immu- nity from the application of general laws" and, therefore, is prohibited from engaging in employment discrimination.4 Conversely, the defend- ant, McClatchy Newspapers, maintained that the First Amendment shields newspaper publishers from statutory interference with their con- trol of editorial content.5 1.
    [Show full text]
  • HUMAN TRAFFICKING Findings • in Its 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, the U.S
    HUMAN TRAFFICKING Findings • In its 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, the U.S. State De- partment listed China as Tier III, which is a designation for governments who ‘‘do not fully meet the minimum standards [under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act] and are not making significant efforts to do so.’’ • Chinese anti-trafficking law remains inconsistent with inter- national standards in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol), to which China is a State Party. Whereas the Palermo Protocol encompasses the exploitation of any individual, Chinese law addresses the selling of women and children, making it difficult to assess the scale of human trafficking in China as defined by international standards. • Women and girls from countries including Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, North Korea, Paki- stan, and Vietnam were trafficked into China for forced mar- riage and sexual exploitation. The demand for such trafficking is due in part to the sex ratio imbalance in China, a result of decades of government-imposed birth limits and a traditional preference for sons, as well as a lack of economic opportunity in countries of origin. • Chinese nationals were trafficked from China to other parts of the world, including the United States. Chinese sex workers were found working in illicit massage parlors across the United States. Because of their coercive nature, some of these cases may constitute human trafficking. • Continued restrictions on movement imposed by the hukou system contributed to the risks that internal migrant workers face in human trafficking. • The Chinese government continued to subject individuals to forced labor during pretrial detention and in administrative de- tention.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Look at Your Neighborhood
    HOW TO LOOK AT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD A Guide for Community Organizations and the Vital Neighborhoods Initiative A Publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia 20112010 HOW TO LOOK AT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD A Guide for Community Organizations A Publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia HOW TO LOOK AT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD is a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. The Preservation Alliance is a non-profit organization whose mission is to actively promote the appreciation, protection and appropriate use and development of the Philadelphia region’s historic buildings, communities and landscapes. The Alliance offers a variety of educational programs, grants, and technical assistance to homeowners and community organizations to encourage the preservation of historic landmarks and the distinctive historic character of Philadelphia neighborhoods. In recent years the Alliance has greatly expanded its programs to preserve the character of Philadelphia neighborhoods and to engage residents and community organizations in preservation activities. The Alliance offers a variety of programs and services in support of its neighborhood preservation efforts including: • Advocacy support for the preservation of neighborhood historic resources and districts; • Educational workshops for homeowners and community organizations; • Special outreach to African American communities, historic sites and churches; • An Old House Fair and recognition awards to homeowners; • Small grants to community organizations
    [Show full text]
  • The Pulitzer Prizes 2020 Winne
    WINNERS AND FINALISTS 1917 TO PRESENT TABLE OF CONTENTS Excerpts from the Plan of Award ..............................................................2 PULITZER PRIZES IN JOURNALISM Public Service ...........................................................................................6 Reporting ...............................................................................................24 Local Reporting .....................................................................................27 Local Reporting, Edition Time ..............................................................32 Local General or Spot News Reporting ..................................................33 General News Reporting ........................................................................36 Spot News Reporting ............................................................................38 Breaking News Reporting .....................................................................39 Local Reporting, No Edition Time .......................................................45 Local Investigative or Specialized Reporting .........................................47 Investigative Reporting ..........................................................................50 Explanatory Journalism .........................................................................61 Explanatory Reporting ...........................................................................64 Specialized Reporting .............................................................................70
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom of Information Act Activity for the Weeks of December 29, 2016-January 4, 2017 Privacy Office January 10, 2017 Weekly Freedom of Information Act Report
    Freedom of Information Act Activity for the Weeks of December 29, 2016-January 4, 2017 Privacy Office January 10, 2017 Weekly Freedom of Information Act Report I. Efficiency and Transparency—Steps taken to increase transparency and make forms and processes used by the general public more user-friendly, particularly web- based and Freedom of Information Act related items: • NSTR II. On Freedom of Information Act Requests • On December 30, 2016, Bradley Moss, a representative with the James Madison Project in Washington D.C, requested from Department of Homeland Security (DI-IS) Secret Service records, including cross-references, memorializing written communications — including USSS documentation summarizing verbal communications —between USSS and the transition campaign staff, corporate staff, or private staff of President-Elect Donald J. Trump. (Case Number HQ 2017-HQF0-00202.) • On December 30, 2016, Justin McCarthy, a representative with Judicial Watch in Washington, D.C., requested from United States Secret Service (USSS) records concerning the use of U.S. Government funds to provide security for President Obama's November 2016 trip to Florida. (Case Number USSS 20170407.) • On January 3,2017, Justin McCarthy, a representative with Judicial Watch in Washington, DE, requested from United States Secret Service (USSS) records concerning, regarding, or relating to security expenses for President Barack °ham's residence in Chicago, Illinois from January 20, 2009 to January 3,2017. (Case Number USSS 20170417.) • On January 3,2017, Justin McCarthy, a representative with Judicial Watch in Washington, D.C., requested from United States Secret Service (USSS) records concerning, regarding. or relating to security expenses for President-Elect Donald Trump and Trump Tower in New York, New York from November 9,2016 to January 3,2017.
    [Show full text]
  • April New Books
    BROWNELL LIBRARY NEW TITLES, APRIL 2018 FICTION F ALBERT Albert, Susan Wittig. Queen Anne's lace / Berkley Prime Crime, 2018 While helping Ruby Wilcox clean up the loft above their shops, China comes upon a box of antique handcrafted lace and old photographs. Following the discovery, she hears a woman humming an old Scottish ballad and smells the delicate scent of lavender. Soon strange things start occurring. Could the building be haunted? F ARDEN Arden, Katherine. The bear and the nightingale: a novel / Del Rey, 2017 A novel inspired by Russian fairy tales follows the experiences of a wild young girl who taps the mysterious powers of a precious necklace given to her father years earlier to save her village from dark and dangerous forces. F BALDACCI Baldacci, David. The fallen / Grand Central Publishing, 2018 Amos Decker and his journalist friend Alex Jamison are visiting the home of Alex's sister in Barronville, a small town in western Pennsylvania that has been hit hard economically. When Decker is out on the rear deck of the house talking with Alex's niece, a precocious eight-year- old, he notices flickering lights and then a spark of flame in the window of the house across the way. When he goes to investigate he finds two dead bodies inside and it's not clear how either man died. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's something going on in Barronville that might be the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the country. Faced with a stonewalling local police force, and roadblocks put up by unseen forces, Decker and Jamison must pull out all the stops to solve the case.
    [Show full text]
  • Foreign Terrorist Organizations
    Order Code RL32223 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Foreign Terrorist Organizations February 6, 2004 Audrey Kurth Cronin Specialist in Terrorism Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Huda Aden, Adam Frost, and Benjamin Jones Research Associates Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress Foreign Terrorist Organizations Summary This report analyzes the status of many of the major foreign terrorist organizations that are a threat to the United States, placing special emphasis on issues of potential concern to Congress. The terrorist organizations included are those designated and listed by the Secretary of State as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” (For analysis of the operation and effectiveness of this list overall, see also The ‘FTO List’ and Congress: Sanctioning Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, CRS Report RL32120.) The designated terrorist groups described in this report are: Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Armed Islamic Group (GIA) ‘Asbat al-Ansar Aum Supreme Truth (Aum) Aum Shinrikyo, Aleph Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) Communist Party of Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group, IG) HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement) Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM) Hizballah (Party of God) Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) Jemaah Islamiya (JI) Al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad) Kahane Chai (Kach) Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK, KADEK) Lashkar-e-Tayyiba
    [Show full text]
  • Journalistic Networks and the Diffusion of Local News: the Brief, Happy News Life of the “Francisville Four”
    This is a repository copy of Journalistic Networks and the Diffusion of Local News: The Brief, Happy News Life of the “Francisville Four”. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/127472/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Anderson, CW orcid.org/0000-0002-3893-8411 (2010) Journalistic Networks and the Diffusion of Local News: The Brief, Happy News Life of the “Francisville Four”. Political Communication, 27 (3). pp. 289-309. ISSN 1058-4609 https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2010.496710 © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Political Communication on 06 Aug 2010, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2010.496710 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 1 “The Role Played by Journalistic Networks in the Construction of “Public” Issues: The Brief, Happy News Life of the ‘Francisville Four,” Chris Anderson Revise and Resubmit at Political Communication 2 “Common Knowledge” About the Blogger-Journalist Relationship The last eight years have seen the analysis of the relationship between “blogging” and “journalism” emerge as an academic growth industry.
    [Show full text]
  • N:\VGLANVIL\Myfiles\OPINIONS\Marchant\Phila News Motion Reject
    IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN RE:: CHAPTER 11 : PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPERS, LLC, ET AL : CASE NO. 09-11204 SR : DEBTOR(S): JOINTLY ADMINISTERED OPINION BY: STEPHEN RASLAVICH, CHIEF UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE. Introduction Before the Court is the Debtors’ Motion For an Order Rejecting Asset Purchase Agreement and Related Agreements Between Certain of the Debtors and the McClatchy Company (McClatchy).1 The Motion is opposed. After hearing held November 17, 2009, the Court took the matter under advisement. For the reasons which follow, the Motion will be granted. Background Because the parties are in agreement as to what are most of the salient facts, little, if any, in the way of documentary or testimonial evidence was offered. The following is established by their pleadings: that the parties entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) in May 2006 (Motion, ¶ 7; Response, ¶ 2); that under the APA the Debtors assumed certain liabilities of McClatchy (Motion ¶ 7, Response ¶ 3); 1The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors has filed a Joinder to the Motion. In it, they have included their own proposed form of Order with suggested revisions to the Debtors’ proposed Order. The Court finds the Committee’s Order to be satisfactory and will enter it. that at the time of the sale, McClatchy had workers compensation insurance in place (Motion ¶ 9, Response ¶ 3); that the Debtors assumed liability for pre-existing workers compensation claims on those policies (Motion ¶ 9; Response ¶ 4); that although the Debtors assumed that liability, McClatchy remained listed as the insured on those policies (Id.); that McClatchy has continued to pay those “historical” claims (Id.); and that the Debtors routinely reimbursed McClatchy through the petition date but not thereafter.
    [Show full text]
  • Statement of the Alphabet Workers Union on “The Misinformation And
    Statement of the Alphabet Workers Union On “the Misinformation and Disinformation Plaguing Online Platforms” Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee March 25, 2021 March 25, 2021 Workers across Alphabet have previously organized against the company's continued refusal to take meaningful action to stop the proliferation of hate, harassment, incitement of violence, or harmful misinformation from YouTube and other Alphabet-operated platforms, without good faith engagement from leadership. Alphabet is responsible for directly contributing to harmful misinformation campaigns that fuel fascist, white nationalist and hateful movements that perpetrate violence in the United States and around the world. While much attention has been paid to YouTube and other online platforms’ role in radicalizing white supremacists, this hearing is also an opportunity to illuminate how these technologies contribute to dangerous disinformation movements including QAnon, “Patriot” militias, and anti-vaccine advocacy. (1), (2). Alphabet has demonstrated a continued policy of reactive, selective and insufficient enforcement of its guidelines against disinformation and hate. As a union that fights for, and welcomes the contributions of, every worker in Alphabet, we find it abhorrent that systems to which we have dedicated our work continue to profit from the hate and disinformation that harms so many of these same workers. (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8). Online misinformation can have real and dire consequences offline, ranging from targeted violence to vaccine hesitancy. Misinformation on Alphabet products facilitates the proliferation of hate-filled conspiracy theories, like QAnon, which has repeatedly lead to incidents of targeted violence and been deemed a domestic terror threat by the FBI. Beyond physical violence, the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation online contributes to diffuse harms that affect those across the US and abroad, such as public health violations, lower vaccination rates, and decreased democratic participation.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Financial Journalism For? Ethics and Responsibility in a Time of Crisis
    What is financial journalism for? Ethics and responsibility in a time of crisis and change Report by damian tambini polis, lse www.polismedia.org email: [email protected] www.charliebeckett.org www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/ www.lcc.arts.ac.uk www.polismedia.org email: [email protected] www.charliebeckett.org www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/ www.lcc.arts.ac.uk 2 What is financial journalism for? Ethics and responsibility in a time of crisis and change Report by damian tambini polis, lse I am grateful to Isabelle Cao Lijun, Terence Kiff, Eva Knoll, Judy Lin, and Gladys Tang for research assistance relating to this article. Thanks also to those that contributed in the seminars and interviews, who are listed in the appendix. Preface A Crisis for Financial Journalism? The current crisis in global banking, markets and economies has reminded us all of the importance of financial and business journalism. It has also raised a set of profound questions as to the quality of that form of reporting. Why didn’t we know this was coming? Did the journalists fail to put the financial system under proper scrutiny? Are they equipped to deal with the continuing complex story? Is this representative of a wider problem with the news media? This pamphlet seeks to address some of those questions. Research for this report began before the Northern Rock scandal. It is not a knee- jerk response. It attempts to set out a framework for a critical analysis of financial journalism. Therefore, we believe it is a useful tool for addressing the present debate about the coverage of the developing crisis.
    [Show full text]