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Media News Round-Up – Nov 13th ’22

Photo by Hatice Yardım on Unsplash

Hi everyone, Eliz Mizon here with the Media Reform Coalition blog.

For even more media news and analysis, the latest media reform campaigns, and relevant content from around the web, visit my Power and Pop Culture newsletter.

For now, here’s your media news digest:

Des Freedman and Gholam Khiabany: ‘No case to answer’

The Goldsmiths branch of UCU has announced that MRC members Des Freedman and Gholam Khiabany, who were suspended by Goldsmiths management for sending an update to students about how academic strike action could affect their graduation, have been reinstated as the Head and Deputy Head of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies (MCCS). “An independent investigation carried out by a leading barrister concluded that “there is no case to answer”.”

Matt Hancock Tarred and Feathered

Matt Hancock has decided to compete in the television game show I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! instead of doing the job taxpayers are paying him to do, and has been subsequently suspended as an MP before being slimed and feathered on television. So far, viewers have had to endure his asking fellow contestants for forgiveness for his conduct as Health Secretary during the pandemic, and bothering bugs and reptiles just trying to get on with their lives.

This Week’s Media News

  • Amazon has become the first public company ever to lose $1 trillion in market value. The company’s market capitalisation fell to $879 billion from $1.88 trillion, while Microsoft was “close behind with $889 billion in value lost”. Inflation and monetary policies have triggered an industry-wide hit in growth felt by many of the US’ largest companies. (Bloomberg)
  • Meta is firing 11,000 staff, a whopping 13% of its workforce. As it “invests heavily” in building mass-VR space ‘the Metaverse’, losses are expected to “grow significantly year-over-year” says CNBC; problems arose after “lukewarm guidance” for investors around last quarter’s losses, resulting in a massive stock drop. (CNBC)
  • Disney has announced a hiring freeze and job cuts from its workforce of 190,000 after “disappointing” quarterly earnings, apparently a direct result of Disney+ suffering as part of this year’s industry-wide streaming subscriber drop-off. (CNBC)
  • Three journalists were arrested covering a Just Stop Oil protest despite showing press cards. Law reform organisation Justice has warned this “might become commonplace” if the Public Order Bill passes into law. (Press Gazette)
  • Oliver Darcy of CNN claims that ‘Murdoch favours DeSantis over Trump’ as the next Republican presidential nominee, after three top Murdoch-owned outlets (Fox News, Wall Street Journal, New York Post) all published favourable coverage of DeSantis. Murdoch papers have “significant sway “ over Republican voters, Darcy notes. (CNN)
  • At 34, an “unprecedented number of women journalists are now detained in Iran”, says Reporters Without Borders. 42 journalists have been arrested during recent protests in the country over ‘morality police’ brutality. (RSF)
  • Staff at HarperCollins, owned by Murdoch’s NewsCorp and one of the ‘Big Five’ publishing companies, have gone on strike until they reach an agreement on a new contract. (NYT)

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See you next time!

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