Tuesday, October 31, 2023
New to URL Media? Subscribe below to receive our free Friday newsletter.
A View From the Ground
News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from the URL Media network.
Boston, MA - October 25: Hundreds gathered on the steps of the Boston Public Library to end the siege on Gaza and protest US funding to Israel. The rally was part of a national gathering of students including BU, MIT, Tufts, Wellesley and Emerson. Credit: Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
🔍 US media is evading its responsibility to acknowledge the Gaza genocide: Through their use of passive language, both-sidesism and the myth of objectivity, Lara Witt and Tina Vasquez argue U.S. reporters are obscuring coverage of the genocide against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip that their newsrooms refuse to acknowledge. "By [mainstream media's] continuing to frame this as a war between the State of Israel and Hamas, newsrooms across the country continue to break the backbone of journalistic integrity and ignore Israel’s pattern of dehumanizing Palestinians," they write. Refusing to call Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza while blocking humanitarian aid and cutting off water and electricity for thousands of people a genocide contradicts the principles of any news outlet claiming to produce "evidence-based" journalism. Prism >
What's Your View?
Per Witt and Vasquez's op-ed, national media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) noted that the Biden administration is actively suppressing discussions of de-escalation and a HuffPost article published on October 13 reported that an internal State Department memo instructed senior officials not to use the words “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm” in press materials on the Middle East — and that many mainstream outlets have followed these directions.Based on these reports, should government officials influence or instruct the media on the specific language they can use in reporting on international conflicts?
📚 Scholastic reverses course after outcry over segregating diverse books: With its 64-book collection of biographies of people of color, including Malala Yousafzai and Ruby Bridges, as well as books about Black history and queer characters, Scholastic has faced backlash from elementary school fair organizers, authors, teachers, and librarians calling on the company to desegregate its book collection. The publishing company issued a statement last week announcing it would discontinue the collection. Prism >
🚌 How safe was it riding the school bus in Detroit?: According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, taking the bus to school is one of the safest forms of transportation today. However, Detroit's history of public safety measures for students riding the bus to school tells a different story. In the 1970s, some transportation officials believed seat belts were not necessary and even called them dangerous. Longstanding daily newspaper Detroit Free Press reported that the Department of Transportation believed "there [were] just too few injuries and deaths to worry about" at the time. Outlier Media >
👻 What Horror Noire reveals about American society: Celebrating the spooky season with Black women horror creators, listeners hear host Farai Chideya interview Louisiana-based writer and director Zandashé Brown about expanding the canon of Black Southern Gothic horror through a Black femme lens. “A lot of the Black horror you see tends to center the experiences of racism, which is valid…but what I’m really interested in is [exploring] our interiority as Black people.” 🎧 Our Body Politic >
🗳️ Minneapolis City Council election guide: Where the candidates stand: Next Tuesday, Minneapolis residents will elect their city council, with nearly 40 candidates running for 13 seats. The incoming council works with the mayor to pass local laws, policies and the city's annual budget. In the past year, the council has debated important policies, including rent control, public safety and increasing benefits for rideshare drivers. Sahan Journal >
Our Website is Now LIVE
💡 Discover the stories that make a difference in our world. Visit our newly revamped website and be part of the change. Check us out here!
Our Partners
