Today, we published the second Alan Elrod article in a week on the toxic politics surrounding the Democratic candidate for Maine's Senate seat, Graham Platner. What's more, yesterday we published Katherine Alejandra Cross in a similar vein. Why the focus on Platner, when so much is at stake
Platner’s campaign trying to navigate exit from consequential Maine race, sources say | CNN Politics
Graham Platner and a small team of strategists behind his candidacy are trying to navigate an exit from the consequential Senate race in Maine without entirely squandering the movement he built, people familiar with the matter said, rather than digging in or trying to find a path forward for his candidacy.
SMP-Maine-Senate-Aug-6.pdf
Graham Platner Was the Perfect Twitter Candidate
Social media transformed his campaign into a political mirage.
Beating the drums for independent press, publishers, and writers
Whose news? Whose story? Who gets to tell it?
Colorado Was Targeted as Trump Fumed Over Election Denier, Email Shows
The state has accused the government in a lawsuit of retaliating after the conviction of Tina Peters, a Trump supporter. An administration official convened a group to discuss “immediate actions.”
Laura Loomer’s racist attacks on Angie Nixon and other prominent Black women draw backlash
Nixon fired back at the far-right activist as Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly condemned Loomer’s remarks as “nasty” and “hateful.”
Seen but not heard: The New York Times failed to quote trans people in over 60% of 2023 stories on anti-trans legislation
A new report from Media Matters and GLAAD finds that The New York Times excluded the perspectives of trans people from two-thirds of its stories about anti-trans legislation in the year following public criticism for its handling of the topic. Media Matters previously reported that the Times helped fuel a right-wing anti-trans panic in 2022 by platforming anti-trans extremists, painting rising transgender identification as a social contagion, and fearmongering about the costs of transgender acceptance. In February 2023, the paper received two separate open letters: one from a coalition of 150+ organizations and leaders, including GLAAD, and a separate letter signed by hundreds of Times contributors that criticized the outlet's contributions to a deadly anti-LGBTQ culture war. The newspaper attempted to conflate both efforts, dismissing all criticisms of its coverage as merely “protests organized by advocacy groups.” Between February 15, 2023, when those letters were separately delivered to the Times, and February 15, 2024, the Times published at least 65 articles that mentioned U.S. anti-trans legislation in either their headline or lead paragraphs. We counted how often the paper quoted openly trans or gender-nonconforming sources, cited anti-trans misinformation or talking points without context or adequate fact-checking, and accurately represented the records of anti-trans figures mentioned in its stories. Our findings: 66% of the articles did not quote even one trans or gender-nonconforming person. 18% of the articles quoted misinformation from anti-trans activists without adequate fact-checking or additional context. 6 articles obscured the anti-trans background of sources, erasing histories of extremist rhetoric or actions.
Elena Rossini 🌈 (@_elena@mastodon.social)
🚨 New post alert 📝 A deep dive into #WSocial with some fascinating findings: candid statements about their motives, a Greta Thunberg connection, potential AI plans (!!!) Why write about it again? I still had so many questions after publishing my first article. I spent 3 weeks watching every interview I could find and connecting the dots. I hope you'll enjoy this piece: 🔗 : https://blog.elenarossini.com/the-untold-story-about-w-social-unconventional-beginnings-strategic-pitches-conflicting-signals/ #blog #longread #privacy #DataMining #Europe
The Bookmaker | The Point Magazine
In the lead-up to the 2008 election, Nate Silver revolutionized the way we talk about politics, bringing cold, hard, numerical facts to a world that had been dominated by the gut feelings of reporters and opinion columnists.
The Bookmaker | The Point Magazine
In the lead-up to the 2008 election, Nate Silver revolutionized the way we talk about politics, bringing cold, hard, numerical facts to a world that had been dominated by the gut feelings of reporters and opinion columnists.
Debunking every Anti Transgender Argument Part 1: Trans Women in Women's Sport
Corporate Bungling And Political Scandal Abound In Jesse Eisinger's New Book
Why don't crooked corporate CEO's go to jail anymore? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jesse Eisinger uncovers culture of cowardice, incompetence, and corruption in both government and finance.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directed from the very top and the damage this legitimization of bigotry has done
Incredible shots of the exchange between Rep. AOC and RFK, Jr. at today’s congressional hearing. (image credit: WSJ reporter @lizessleywhyte.bsky.social)
We will discuss this paper in the civic participation journal club. Cannot wait to read it at lunchtime tomorrow🍎
Brihi Joshi
Reasoning about the "why" behind user behavior can improve LLM personas! ✨🧠📈 📝Excited to share our new work: Improving LLM Personas via Rationalization with Psychological Scaffolds 🔗 arxiv.org/abs/2504.17993 🧵 (1/n)
US media: The Washington Post
For context, I’m a former NYT and WaPo subscriber who wishes the former would do better and has given up on the latter
Amazon reveals plans to spend $200bn in one year the day after Bezos guts Washington Post
“Something I will be most proud of when I’m 90”: How Jeff Bezos used to talk about The Washington Post, and what’s changed
