Tag Archives: Media Issues

FCC Announces New Rule to Confront Deepfake Robocalls

While welcoming the rule, one advocate said it is “not enough to safeguard citizens and our elections.”

By Julia Conley. Published 2-8-2024 by Common Dreams

Photo: Ivan Radic/flickr/CC

Just over two weeks after New Hampshire voters were inundated with artificial intelligence-generation robocalls featuring U.S. President Joe Biden’s fake voice telling them not to vote in their state’s primary, the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday announced what one adocate called a “desperately needed” rule declaring such calls are illegal under federal law.

The FCC unanimously voted to adopt the declaratory ruling, saying calls like those made in New Hampshire are “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

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Despite Human Rights Concerns, El Salvador’s Bukele Reelected in Landslide

“Human rights violations have been constant during the Bukele administration,” said one activist. “We can only expect it to continue growing.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 2-5-2024 by Common Dreams

Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele in 2019, Photo: Public Domain

As right-wing Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday night declared victory in his bid for a constitutionally proscribed second term, critics underscored the human rights costs of a state of emergency that’s sacrificed civil liberties in the name of security.

Although votes are still being counted, there was no doubt on Monday of Bukele’s landslide reelection to another five-year term. The self-described “world’s coolest dictator” claimed to have won 85% of the vote, a figure roughly equal to exit polling figures published by Salvadoran and international media.

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Primary Season Is Here, But Still No FEC Action on Campaign Deepfakes

A consumer advocacy group warns that deceptive images generated by AI are “one of the biggest threats to our elections.”

By Julia Conley. Published 1-16-2024 by Common Dreams

Image: ApolitikNow/flickr/CC

As consumer advocacy group Public Citizen marked three months since the Federal Election Commission closed its public comment period on regulating artificial intelligence-generated “deepfake” images in election ads, the group on Tuesday questioned whether the FEC itself is “just a computer-generated illusion.”

“Do we have a real Federal Election Commission?” asked Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, eight months after the group submitted its first petition asking the FEC to establish new rules banning deepfakes in campaign materials.

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Experts ‘Terrified’ of AI-Driven Misinformation ‘Tsunami’ in 2024 Election

“If people don’t ultimately trust information related to an election, democracy just stops working,” said a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 1226-2023 by Common Dreams

An ad for a deepfake video maker. Screenshot: OpenAISee

As 2024 approaches and with it the next U.S. presidential election, experts and advocates are warning about the impact that the spread of artificial intelligence technology will have on the amount and sophistication of misinformation directed at voters.

While falsehoods and conspiracy theories have circulated ahead of previous elections, 2024 marks the first time that it will be easy for anyone to access AI technology that could create a believable deepfake video, photo, or audio clip in seconds, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

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Israel’s Killing of Journalists in Gaza ‘Unparalleled,’ Says Watchdog

The Committee to Protect Journalists—which recorded 68 media professionals killed since October 7—said it is particularly concerned by Israel’s “apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 12-22-2023 by Common Dreams

Palestinian journalists Muhammad Sobh and Saeed Al-Taweel were killed during their work by Israeli airstrikes on October 10, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza Photo: Ahmed Shameya/X

Journalists are being slain during Israel’s current assault on Gaza at a rate unseen in modern history—with more killed in the last 10 weeks alone than have been killed in any country in any whole year since records began, the Committee to Protect Journalists revealed on Thursday.

CPJ said that at least 68 media professionals—61 Palestinians, four Israelis, and three Lebanese—have been killed since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the Israeli military’s retaliatory obliteration of the Gaza Strip.

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Press Freedom Group Slams Tom Cotton for Boosting ‘Malicious Disinformation’ About Gaza Journalists

The U.S. senator and top Israeli officials have “put journalists’ lives at risk” by seizing on a baseless report, the Freedom of the Press Foundation said.

By Jake Johnson. Published 11-11-2023 by Common Dreams

Senator Tom Cotton. Photo: Michael Vadon/flickr/CC

A U.S.-based press freedom group slammed Republican Sen. Tom Cotton and top Israeli officials on Friday for uncritically boosting a report that falsely suggested Gaza-based photojournalists who were on the scene during Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel last month were in some way complicit in the assault.

The report, published on November 8 by the Israeli media watchdog HonestReporting, stated that “judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping, and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically.”

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Report Exposes US Media for Framing Social Justice Protests as ‘Terrorism’

“Equating activism with terrorism is undemocratic and serves to silence dissenters,” said Deepa Kumar, who analyzed how major U.S. media outlets have covered protesters of “Cop City” in Georgia.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-7-2023 by Common Dreams

Stop Cop City solidarity protest in New York City March 2023. Photo: Felton Davis/flickr/CC

A paper published Tuesday by a media studies scholar explores what she calls “one of the enduring costs of the ‘War on Terror,'” mainstream outlets parroting police talking points on terrorism and “legitimating state violence while stifling democratic protest.”

Rutgers University professor Deepa Kumar’s paper—released by the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs—focuses on how major U.S. media outlets have covered protesters of “Cop City,” Atlanta’s proposed Public Safety Training Center just outside of city limits in Georgia.

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US Corporate Media Outlets Allow IDF to Vet ‘All Materials’ From Embedded Reporters in Gaza

“Israel is killing the journalists that expose their crimes, then bribing the journalists that cover for them,” said one critic.

By Brett Wilkins Published 11-6-2023 by Common Dreams

CNN’s Jeremy Diamond points toward Israeli military hardware in a field near Israel’s border with Gaza.
 (Photo: CNN screen grab)

U.S. corporate media outlets have granted Israeli military commanders pre-publication review rights for “all materials and footage” recorded by their correspondents embedded with the Israel Defense Forces during the invasion of Gaza, a precondition condemned by press freedom advocates.

“Journalists embedded with the IDF in Gaza operate under the observation of Israeli commanders in the field, and are not permitted to move unaccompanied within the Gaza Strip,” Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN‘s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” explained in a segment on Sunday.

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Israel Readying Emergency Regulations Allowing Arrest of Journalists for Factual Reporting

One Israeli journalist said Israel’s far-right government—trying to stop Al Jazeera’s Gaza broadcasts—is “acting more like Putin’s” regime.

By Brett Wilkins Published 10-16-2023 by Common Dreams

Shlomo Karhi, a member of the right-wing Likud party who is currently Israel’s communications minister, with Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Shlomo Karhi/Facebook

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi confirmed Sunday that he is drafting regulations that will empower him to order police to arrest journalists for factual reporting and target anyone he believes has damaged national morale during Israel’s ongoing war against Gaza.

Haaretz reports that Karhi—a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party—is preparing draft emergency regulations titled “Limiting Aid to the Enemy through Communication” which would allow him to direct police to arrest any civilian, remove them from their home, and seize their property if he believes they have disseminated information that might harm national morale or be used as “enemy propaganda.”

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Kansas Newspaper Co-Owner Dies as Press Defenders Decry ‘Deeply Disturbing’ Raid on Home, Office

One columnist said that “it is not hyperbole to say that this attack on the people’s right to know appears to have killed” 98-year-old Joan Meyer.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 8-13-2023 by Common Dreams

The Marion County Record confirmed the death of the newspaper’s co-owner on August 13, 2023. 
(Photo: screenshot/Marion County Record)

Advocacy groups and reporters across the United States have sounded the alarm throughout the weekend about a legally dubious police raid on Friday targeting the Marion County Record office and the publisher’s Kansas home in an alleged identity theft investigation—events that the newspaper said contributed to the death of the elderly co-owner.

“Stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief after illegal police raids on her home and the Marion County Record newspaper office Friday, 98-year-old newspaper co-owner Joan Meyer, otherwise in good health for her age, collapsed Saturday afternoon and died at her home,” the outlet reported.

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