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Month: August 2023

Climate: How the media reported on tropical storm Hilary in California

Climate: How the media reported on tropical storm Hilary in California

The spin began with “deadly”, “life threatening”, “catastrophic” speculation, then followed that afterwards with “It wasn’t that bad”, and stories saying the tropical storm was 100% caused by the Global Boiling ClimateCrisis, and then a few adding historical context of past tropical storms and even a hurricane.

Media: Content mills and the eliteness of reporters

Media: Content mills and the eliteness of reporters

“Content mills” and “Content Generation” services are becoming the backbone of web “journalism”. Related: many journalists having surprisingly elite backgrounds, greatly disconnected from the rest of society. At the national level, most have attended elite universities, went to private high schools, and have done studies abroad, They have degrees in English Lit, Creative Writing, History or Political Science, and sometimes journalism – yet often call themselves “Science” or “Environmental Science” reporters, even though they have no background in those subjects. A bit of a surprise.

Media: Content farms are using AI-generated text to sell eyeballs to advertisers

Media: Content farms are using AI-generated text to sell eyeballs to advertisers

“Content mills” and “Content Generation” services are becoming the backbone of web “journalism”. 57% of newsroom jobs at newspapers went away from 2008 onwards. What does those people do now? They write stories about that one weird trick that explains why this airport did something to someone… in other words, fluffy filler click-bait articles.

Learning a new dialect of your native language?

Learning a new dialect of your native language?

Every language has terminology and idioms that may have originated long ago, in the context of derogatory comments or associated with an era when such language may have been viewed as derogatory. There is a list, online, over almost 3,000 words or phrases in the English language, that are considered offensive, or considered offensive in some contexts.