media ethics

The Open Question March 25: The Bachelor got cancelled... what does it say about us? Today at 2pm. 

Some context here; here are some places for us to start: 

• How should we form beliefs about something like this? What sources do you actually trust, and why? When you see a headline like "Bachelor cancelled due to child abuse allegations," what's your process (do you have one) for moving from headline to belief?
• Should networks be making moral judgments about their talent, or just legal ones? There's cancellation, but what about the choice to hire Taylor Frankie Paul in the first place?
• Do you trust the reporting on this? Which outlet, and why that one?
• What does it look like to handle a story like this well, as a society?

#openquestion

Open Question March 11: Free Speech, but who draws the lines? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdx9n317Wpw 

Free speech rules and culture today have a huge impact on the future:

• Tech companies + algorithms determine who gets heard in 'public'... so government vs citizen doesn't touch today's real power struggles

• AI: when you can clone anyone’s voice or face, what’s protected and what’s harm?

• Political shifts: old arguments on who's defending or restricting speech (and why) don't hold, making it a topic where fresh thinking actually matters. Eg: The political left (eg ACLU defending neo-Nazis' right to march) used to be standard bearers, where now, the left is more likely to argue that unregulated speech causes real harm to marginalized communities.

This conversation will inform a live interview tomorrow with Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the leading free speech advocacy and litigation organization in the United States. A graduate of Stanford Law School, he has led FIRE since 2001, growing it from a six-person operation to a 120-person powerhouse, and is the co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind (with Jonathan Haidt)

#openquestion 

Open Question March 11: Free Speech, but who draws the lines? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdx9n317Wpw 

Free speech rules and culture today have a huge impact on the future:

• Tech companies + algorithms determine who gets heard in 'public'... so government vs citizen doesn't touch today's real power struggles

• AI: when you can clone anyone’s voice or face, what’s protected and what’s harm?

• Political shifts: old arguments on who's defending or restricting speech (and why) don't hold, making it a topic where fresh thinking actually matters. Eg: The political left (eg ACLU defending neo-Nazis' right to march) used to be standard bearers, where now, the left is more likely to argue that unregulated speech causes real harm to marginalized communities.

This conversation will inform a live interview tomorrow with Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the leading free speech advocacy and litigation organization in the United States. A graduate of Stanford Law School, he has led FIRE since 2001, growing it from a six-person operation to a 120-person powerhouse, and is the co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind (with Jonathan Haidt)

#openquestion 

Payola is killing indie artists. Payola poses a significant danger to the integrity of the music industry!  When financial transactions overshadow true talent, it erodes authentic artistry and robs listeners of genuine voices. We must demand transparency and fairness in music!

Jeffrey Epstein—what do y'all think? Let's try making sense of the thing surrounding Epstein—

US corruption, money and status and power, sexual abuse and trafficking, complicity, and justice, etc...

Here's a little context, summarized:

Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offender who built a fortune through relationships with celebrity politicians, business people, and royalty. He's thought to have run a vast sex trafficking operation, victimizing hundreds of underage girls, and it's unclear how many of his associates were involved or aware of what was happening. Things like his controversial plea deal in 2008 indicate American corruption—using his wealth and connections to evade accountability. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges but died in a way that is officially called "suicide" and widely considered a cover-up.

Why it matters:
The Epstein case erodes public trust in institutions, fuels partisan weaponization and conspiracy theories about elite corruption, and has become a self-created political nightmare for Trump, who promised file releases during his campaign but now refuses disclosure after learning his name appears in documents, causing unprecedented fractures within his MAGA base who view him as part of the establishment cover-up he once opposed.