Archives for September 2020

Local Fox News, MSNBC and CNN affiliates banned ads featuring deepfakes of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un meant to air during last night’s debate, reports Media Post.

Deepfakes are a controversial technology that uses AI overlays to make actors look and sound like whoever the advertisers want. In this case, the ads showed Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un warning Americans about the threat they posed to democracy while encouraging people to go out and vote. Both ads have the fake “dictators” telling Americans that “I don’t have to do anything. You’re doing it to yourselves,” referencing the potential for a chaotic election process this November. Both ads end with the disclaimer, “This footage is not real, but the threat is.”

The ad was developed by the non-profit RepresentUs in partnership with creative agency Mischief @ No Fixed Address as a part of a campaign meant to protect voter rights. President and Co-founder of RepresentUs, Joshua Graham Lynn, told reporters at Insider that “by featuring two leaders who have a vested interest in the collapse of our democratic system, we are putting the American people face-to-face with just how fragile our democracy really is. We hope it inspires Americans to come together to fight for this one issue that unites us all.”

The ads were designed to be provocative and attention grabbing so that they may shock their audience into taking actions such as checking their voter registration or volunteering for the polls. “There is so much noise in this political environment that people can be overwhelmed and left feeling it’s all out of their hands, there’s nothing they can do,” explains Greg Hahn, the co-founder and chief creative officer at Mischief @ No Fixed Address. “Apathy is actually the intent of the noise. It was really critical to cut through all of that in a way that provokes.”

This reasoning marks a departure from how experts are used to thinking about deepfakes, notes Karen Hao from MIT Technology Review. “It flips the script on the typical narrative of political deepfakes, which experts often worry could be abused to confuse voters and disrupt elections,” she writes.

Local Washington D.C. affiliates of Fox News, CNN and MSNBC all gave no reason for dropping the ads at the last minute after they were initially pre-approved. Karen Hao suggests that “the sensitive nature of using deepfakes in a political context” left the networks hesitant to air the advertisements. The ads still aired on various social media platforms with support from influencers including Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Jennifer Lawrence, Ed Helms, Alyssa Milano, and Kathy Griffin.

You can watch the ads here and here.

Craig Newmark the founder of Craigslist has become an important philanthropist giving to media, academia and veterans causes. Howard University and Mr. Newmark  announced his $2.5 million donation for Howard University’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications to help support aspiring young journalism students, reports Howard University’s Newsroom.

Although Newmark made most of his money through Craigslist, in recent years he’s been spending most of his time focusing on his philanthropic work. In an interview with the Nob Hill Gazette, Newmark said that he is no longer doing customer service for Craigslist, “but I’m busier than I’ve ever been with my philanthropic work, and I do customer service there.” He later explains that, “One approach in philanthropy is to share power. My variation of that is that I give away power rather than accumulating it because I have no interest in accumulating power and I could be way more effective by giving it away. That’s power as expressed in dollars and influence.”

 

This most recent donation will be gifted to the school via Craig Newmark Philanthropies to support several areas of need within the school, including $1.5 million for The Craig Newmark Journalism Endowed Opportunity Scholarship Program which will target primarily junior and senior student journalists with demonstrated financial needs; and The Craig Newmark Journalism Endowed Student Experience Fund which will promote professional development opportunities and job availability for graduating students.

“We are honored and humbled to receive this generous donation from Craig Newmark and Craig Newmark Philanthropies to support students in our journalism program,” said Gracie Lawson-Borders, Ph.D., dean of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications. “We are at a pivotal moment in society in which good journalism serves as a cornerstone that supports democracy reporting history as it unfolds and giving voice to Blacks and other marginalized communities. Fifty years after the 1968 Kerner Commission report, our relevancy is heightened by the tenor of our times. It is essential that our school continues to prepare student journalists to provide context and give voice to all communities across this country. In the School of C, our awarding-winning faculty work to train and prepare successful journalists for the application of their craft.  Thank you, Mr. Newmark.”

While this is one of the biggest donations Newmark has made to support journalism this year, it is not the first. At the end of January, the American Press Institute announced a grant of $388,000 from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to “build a real-time network of newsroom leaders, civic and academic institutions, and outside experts who will communicate throughout the 2020 election to combat disinformation and other threats to honest reporting, election integrity and voter suppression,” according to Craig Newmark Philanthropies Newsroom.

Just last month, Newmark went on the Digiday Podcast to explain why he’s giving millions to schools and journalistic programs across the country. “In the 1970s, my high school U.S. history and civics teacher taught us about the importance of a free press,” Newmark told Digiday Podcast host, Brian Morrissey. “A trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy.” 

In his announcement with Howard University, Newmark echoed this sentiment: “All Americans deserve fair treatment, and to that end we need journalism that tells the truth, the diverse truth, in a way that benefits everyone. The Howard University journalism program will play a large role in telling that truth.”

Newmark, who got his start as a programmer for tech-giant IBM before moving on to start Craigslist, has also urged other major tech platforms to help with the fight against disinformation and declining journalism. “I think the big guys [Google and Facebook] should be doing more to help journalism,” said Newmark on Digiday’s Podcast. He went on to say, “I’d encourage the social media giants to do the easy stuff, to do what their own people are telling them they want, and then to be prepared to take a certain amount of heat. I can tell you it’s no fun to take that heat, especially if you’re subject to disinformation or even dirty tricks. But right now the country’s survival relies on the social media giants to stand up and do the right thing.”

In a recent change of pace, President Donald Trump told “Fox and Friends” that he expects former Vice President Joe Biden “to do great” at the first debate set to take place in Ohio on September 29th, reports The New York Post. 

“I think he’s a professional. I don’t know if he’s all there, but I think he’s a professional,” Trump said to the “Fox and Friends” panel of hosts. “I have to assume that he’s a professional and that he can debate.” 

This comes at a stark contrast to statements the President has made earlier about Joe Biden’s performance during the primary debates, which Trump called, “worst debate performances I’ve ever seen.” Just last week, without evidence, Trump suggested to the same trio of hosts on “Fox and Friends” that Joe Biden was using drugs to enhance his debate performance against Bernie Sanders.

According to The New York Post article, Trump said, “I won’t say what but a lot of people think that something happened and you can’t do that kind of stuff, you just can’t do that kind of stuff.”

When pressed as to whether Trump was insinuating that Biden was taking something to “pep him up,” the President responded, “I do, he’s taking something… that gives him some clarity.”

Top Trump aides and campaign advisors have been building a debate prep strategy since early August. Forbes notes that Trump’s change in tune may have come as advisors remind him that, historically, presidential campaigns will raise expectations for their opponents leading into the debates. 

Longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz says, “Joe Biden has had mixed results of speaking off the cuff in the last few months, but he has been elevated by such low expectations,” reports Politico. “I don’t understand why the Trump people and Trump himself make fun of Biden’s inability to complete a sentence. That makes it easier for him to claim victory.”

Following one of the most remarkable presidential campaign seasons our country has ever seen, former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are preparing for a climactic series of debates leading up to election day, November 3rd. Here’s what you need to know.

The Commission of Presidential Debates, a bi-partisan non-profit corporation committed to preserving the integrity of the debates since 1987, released the schedule for the 2020 Debates earlier this month, along with the list of moderators selected to oversee each one, reported CBS News. Each debate is set to go live 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET.

The first presidential debate, scheduled for Tuesday, September 29th, will be moderated by Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. According to a report from Politico, this first debate will be divided into six 15-minute discussion areas, including Trump’s and Biden’s records, the Supreme Court, the coronavirus pandemic, race and violence in cities, election integrity, and the economy. The topics were selected by Chis Wallace.

Up next, the one and only vice presidential debate will take place the following week on Wednesday, Oct. 7th at University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. This debate will be moderated by USA Today’s Washington Bureau Chief, Susan Page.

The second presidential debate will be on Thursday, October 15th at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida with Steve Scully, C-SPAN’s political editor, moderating. 

The last debate will occur the following Thursday, October 22nd, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee and will be moderated by NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker.

You will be able to tune in to the debates on a number of major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, and MSNBC. There will also be a free live stream available on ABCNews.com or here on YouTube, according to CNET.