In The News

World Averts Gaze From Impeachment: USA Today

Kim Hjelmgaard December 20, 2019
The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump on two articles, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Only one Republican congressional representative has criticized Trump’s behavior and he left the party. Otherwise, all Republicans in the House opposed impeachment. Removing the president requires 67 votes in a Senate. The Republican majority probably will not convict Trump. Hence,...

Public Misled on Afghan War: Washington Post

Craig Whitlock December 9, 2019
The war in Afghanistan has been underway since 2001, and confidential documents suggest that US officials hid evidence that the longest war in US history was unwinnable, reports Craig Whitlock for the Washington Post. Those documents entitled "Lessons Learned" were obtained after a three-year legal battle and include assessments from generals, diplomats, aid workers and Afghan officials...

Fake Media Outlets on India Topics: EU DisinfoLab

EU DisinfoLab November 18, 2019
A EU Disinformation Task Force exposed a publication that purports to cover the European Parliament, eptoday.com, and is managed by Indian interests. The magazine has “ties to a large network of think tanks, NGOs, and companies from the Srivastava Group.” The task force quickly figured out the network produced a number of odd publications, hosted by the same server and sharing staff. A tip by an...

Africa’s Broadcasting Revolution: African Business

David Thomas July 30, 2019
Africa’s young audiences are embracing tried-and-true formulas for television programming from elsewhere in the world – “homegrown, home-produced content telling stories about themselves – it’s the same the world over,” as suggested by an executive of TVC Communications, as reported by David Thomas for African Business Magazine. Popular shows include Wake Up Nigeria and The Bachelor in South...

Why Some People Avoid News: NiemanLab

Joshua Benton July 13, 2019
The internet gives people access to more news from around the globe than ever before. The supply of troubling news is never-ending, and news avoidance is on the rise, reports Joshua Benton for NiemanLab at Harvard University. A 2017 study found the leading reason for avoidance is news triggering bad moods followed by worries that reports are untrue. Anecdotal reports suggest many people regard...

Corruption in European Soccer: The New Yorker

Sam Knight June 11, 2019
The whistle-blowing organization Football Leaks has targeted corruption among dozens of soccer players, executives and clubs since 2015. Portuguese soccer aficionado Rui Pinto has reported on inflated salaries, large-scale tax evasion, controversial and secret deals and rape allegations against a major star. Currently being held for cybercrime charges, the young man leaked more than 88 million...

Australia’s China Challenge: New York Times

Damien Cave May 26, 2019
The Chinese government, under President Xi Jinping, has expanded its covert sphere of influence in countries like Australia. China relies on the substantial ethnic Chinese population and Chinese economic ties representing 24 percent of Australian imports and exports to push its agenda within Australia with a say on the nation’s foreign trade policy. Beijing has weaponized economics, and Chinese...