This week…
Your reading time is about 3 minutes. Let’s start.
The ICJ finally released its landmark advisory opinion on climate change, and while it is not legally binding, it sets a precedent. I guess. (Excuse the scepticism.) Can’t wait for the conspiracy spin on this one.
Your Wikipedia this week: The Basic Principles of War Propaganda
And now, a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
ICYMI: The Previous Block was about language and censorship.
CORRECTION NOTICE: None notified.CONSPIRACIES
The Macrons v Candace Owens: lawsuit marks new phase in battle against conspiracy theories
Angelique Chrisafis for The Guardian:
When the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte, took the rare step this week of filing a US defamation lawsuit against the rightwing podcaster Candace Owens, it marked a new phase in a legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic against the false claim that Brigitte Macron is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
The Macrons’ US lawsuit attacked what it called the “verifiably false and devastating lies” being repeated online by Owens that Brigitte Macron, 72, was born a man. The lawsuit said evidence clearly disproved this “grotesque narrative”, which had become “a campaign of global humiliation” and “relentless bullying on a worldwide scale”.
The case prompted broader questions this week about how conspiracy theories spread worldwide, whether they can be stopped in the courts and what this false narrative, which began in France after the Covid pandemic, says about French society’s distrust in politicians.
“This is now one of the biggest fake news stories worldwide in terms of popularity – a billion people have seen it,” said Emmanuelle Anizon, a senior journalist for the French weekly Nouvel Obs, who last year published a book, L’Affaire Madame, investigating the origins of the rumour in France. “What’s new is that for the first time, Emmanuel Macron has joined his wife in taking legal action.”
The Macrons’ US lawsuit states the accusation that Brigitte Macron was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux is completely false and Trogneux is in fact is her older brother. Trogneux, 80, lives in the northern French town of Amiens, where he grew up with Brigitte and four other siblings in a family famous for its local chocolate business. He was present in public alongside his Brigitte at Emmanuel Macron’s two presidential inaugurations in 2017 and 2022.
Owens, whose podcast and social media channels have an audience of millions, said this week she stood by her narrative.
So many pressing things to focus on and this is what Owens wants to spend her time, energy, and now, money, on. Loosely linked:
Conspiracy theorists don’t realise they’re on the fringe by Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica.
Conspiracies about extreme weather spread faster than life-saving alerts on social media, says CCDH study by Rebecca Ann Hughes for Euronews. (View report here.)
How poetry can help to fight polarisation and misinformation by Alex Hubbard (Aberystwyth University) for The Conversation.
THE PRESS
As mainstream TV ignores Gazans’ suffering, these Israeli outlets expose surveillance, brutality and war crimes
Gretel Kahn for RISJ:
As this project from our journalist fellow Davide Lerner thoroughly documented, jingoism has dominated Israeli TV and Palestinian suffering has often been ignored. Smaller publications have covered the war more critically, but their impact is often limited and don’t reach the massive audiences TV channels command.
Despite the global backlash against the thousands of casualties caused by Israel’s bombing campaign, most Israelis seem to be fine with news coverage of the conflict. A recent poll by the aChord Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggested that 64 per cent of Israelis said domestic media coverage on Gaza was balanced and did not require broader reporting on the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
Loosely linked:
If you think we have press freedom, try sharing this story on Instagram by Mostafa Al-A’sar for The Walrus.
Press freedom group calls for strengthening independent public media ahead of EU Media Freedom Act by Tony Xun (University of Ottawa) for Jurist.
News agencies warn journalists in Gaza at risk of starvation by Amy Walker for BBC.
Other curious links, including en español et français
LONG READ | The grammar of a god-ocean by Eli K. P. William for Aeon.
PHOTO ESSAY | Syria’s archives of atrocity by Lynzy Billing for The Dial.
Una IA a imagen y semejanza de Elon Musk: Grok es la voz de su amo por Elsa Arnaiz en Retina.
Las grandes tecnológicas se lanzan al negocio de la guerra: así se militariza Silicon Valley por Manuel G. Pascual en El País.
Los periodistas de América Latina buscan recuperar la confianza de sus lectores por Kirvin Larios en El País.
TikTok Canada et notre culture, l’autre côté de la médaille par Stéphanie Dupuis dans Radio-Canada.
Que fait l’Europe face aux géants du numérique ? par Valère Ndior (Université de Bretagne occidentale) dans The Conversation.
Harcèlement, racisme, souffrances psychologiques: les dérives des téléréalités d’enfermement par Timéo Guillon dans RFI.
What I read, listen, and watch
I’m reading Credible (2021) by Deborah Tuerkheimer about why we doubt accusers and protect abusers.
I’m listening to CBC’s Front Burner on the growing fascist fight clubs in Canada.
I’m watching CNA’s piece on the Thailand-Cambodia border dispute.
Chart of the week
Generative AI models cited journalistic content in 49 per cent of “queries implying a level of recency,” and favoured Reuters and Axios, according to a report by Muck Rack, as written by Andrew Deck for Nieman Lab.