Tuesday, November 5

Tag: became

Podcast Host, Michelle Obama: How Podcasting Became A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry
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IMPACT, TOP FOUR

Podcast Host, Michelle Obama: How Podcasting Became A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

“You kind of fail your way to success,” observed Matt Lieber, head of podcast operations at Spotify, at this year’s Audiocraft festival, an annual weekend of panels about podcasting. Normally held in Sydney, this year, thanks to COVID-19, the festival shifted online. Lieber was talking about StartUp, his podcast about establishing Gimlet Media in 2014. Lieber and his business partner, Alex Blumberg, wanted to develop a podcast studio that would become “the HBO of audio”. Last year, Gimlet hit the jackpot. It was acquired by Spotify for US$230 million (A$322 million). While podcasts have been alive on the internet since 2004 (“But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?” asked the Guardian), 2014’s Serial is largely credited with starting a new boom for the form. Seria...
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Essential Reads: Facebook Became Meta – The Company’s Dangerous Behavior Came Into Sharp Focus In 2021
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BUSINESS

Essential Reads: Facebook Became Meta – The Company’s Dangerous Behavior Came Into Sharp Focus In 2021

Meta, née Facebook, had a rough year in 2021, in public opinion if not financially. Revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen, first detailed in a Wall Street Journal investigative series and then presented in congressional testimony, show that the company was aware of the harm it was causing. Growing concerns about misinformation, emotional manipulation and psychological harm came to a head this year when Haugen released internal company documents showing that the company’s own research confirmed the societal and individual harm its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms cause. The Conversation gathered four articles from our archives that delve into research that explains Meta’s problematic behavior. 1. Addicted to engagement At the root of Meta’s harmfulness is its set of algo...
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After The Sandy Hook Shootings, Conspiracy Theories In The US Became More Personal, More Cruel And More Mainstream
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POLITICS

After The Sandy Hook Shootings, Conspiracy Theories In The US Became More Personal, More Cruel And More Mainstream

Conspiracy theories are powerful forces in the U.S. They have damaged public health amid a global pandemic, shaken faith in the democratic process and helped spark a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. These conspiracy theories are part of a dangerous misinformation crisis that has been building for years in the U.S. American politics has long had a paranoid streak, and belief in conspiracy theories is nothing new. But as the news cycle reminds us daily, outlandish conspiracy theories born on social media now regularly achieve mainstream acceptance and are echoed by people in power. As a journalism professor at the University of Connecticut, I have studied the misinformation around the mass shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. I c...
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Howard Fuller – How The Civil Rights Activist Became A Devout Champion Of School Choice
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Journalism

Howard Fuller – How The Civil Rights Activist Became A Devout Champion Of School Choice

Jon Hale, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign As a longtime civil rights activist and education reformer, Howard Fuller has seen his support for school choice spark both controversy and confusion. That’s because it aligns him with polarizing Republican figures that include Donald Trump and Trump’s former secretary of education, Betsy DeVos. But unlike those figures, Fuller’s support for school choice is not rooted in a conservative agenda to privatize public schools. Rather, it is grounded in his ongoing quest to provide Black students a quality education by any means necessary. I write about Fuller in my new book “The Choice We Face,” which traces the history of school choice as well as demands for radical education reform by Black activists. Unlike most other school choice advo...
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How The Act Of Speculating Became A Financial Mania – From Tulips And Scrips To Bitcoin And Meme Stocks
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BUSINESS

How The Act Of Speculating Became A Financial Mania – From Tulips And Scrips To Bitcoin And Meme Stocks

In the late 1990s, America experienced a dot-com mania. In the 2000s, the housing market went wild. Today, there are manias in everything from bitcoin and nonfungible tokens to SPACs and meme stocks – obscure corners of the market that are getting increased attention. Whether these are the next bubbles to burst remains to be seen. The sudden rise of all these relatively new asset classes – or the astronomical heights they’ve reached – may seem irrational or even enchanted. Describing them as speculative manias implies that individuals are lost in forces beyond their control and needn’t take responsibility for the actions of the crowd. But, as I learned while researching my book “Speculation: A Cultural History from Aristotle to AI,” which will be published in June 2021, financial specul...
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Before Kamala Harris became Biden’s running mate, Shirley Chisholm and other Black women aimed for the White House
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POLITICS

Before Kamala Harris became Biden’s running mate, Shirley Chisholm and other Black women aimed for the White House

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, the American daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, is Joe Biden’s choice for vice president. If Biden wins in November, Harris would break three centuries-old barriers to become the nation’s first female vice president, first Black vice president and first Black female vice president. Geraldine Ferraro was the first female vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket, in 1984. In 2008, Alaska’s then-governor Sarah Palin was Republican John McCain’s running mate. Before Harris was picked as Biden’s running mate, she was his competitor for the Democratic presidential nomination. She is one of many Black American women who have aimed for the highest office in the land despite great odds. Hands that once picked cotton African Americans have endured many ...
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