The 17th Block: Gone too soon
A short one this week—no audio.
I didn’t sign up for this
Ben Smith for NYT: How Zeynep Tufekci keeps getting the big things right. “In 2011, she went against the current to say the case for Twitter as a driver of broad social movements had been oversimplified. In 2012, she warned news media outlets that their coverage of school shootings could inspire more. In 2013, she argued that Facebook could fuel ethnic cleansing. In 2017, she warned that YouTube’s recommendation algorithm could be used as a tool of radicalisation. And when it came to the pandemic, she sounded the alarm early.”
Kelly McBride for Poynter: ‘Unarmed Black Man’ doesn’t mean what you think it means. “A search of the archive reveals that NPR has used the phrase 82 times in the past year… In that same time period, “unarmed white man” does not appear anywhere in NPR’s coverage.”
Cristian Gherasim for Euronews: Popular vlogger Selly tricked Romanian media into running a fake news story. Is fact-checking no longer practised?
Ryan Mac for Buzzfeed: Kenosha Militia Facebook event asking attendees to bring weapons was reported 455 times; moderators said it didn’t violate any rules.
Gone too soon
This week’s headlines: “Chadwick Boseman dies of cancer at 43.” “Kevin Mayer leaves Tiktok after mere months as Tiktok’s CEO.” “Malaysia extends the recovery movement control order until December 31st.”
There were many more, but my week was filled with multiple podcast recording sessions, and in between, I bought a cempedak from the grocer, and spent the rest of the time watching Borgen on Netflix. I think it is okay to take a break from the news, even for a news junkie. So this week’s newsletter’s format is a little bit different. I will not have a Malay segment nor an audio segment. Instead, I will share with you the two short IGTV videos I have made about the cempedak fruit and its seeds. Please enjoy.
What I read, watch and listen to…
I’m reading The Mandate Letter, a newsletter by Jason Rogers, Olympic medalist and writer, whose work focuses on the culture of manhood.
I’m watching CNN reporter Daniel Dale fact-checking the US president for three straight minutes:
Chart of the week
In case we think Daniel Dale is biased against the US president, believe it, he fact-checks anyone:
Videos of the week
Buah cempedak di luar pagar,
Ambil galah tolong jolokkan;
Saya budak baru belajar,
Kalau salah tolong tunjukkan.
— Pantun Melayu.
