Category: media

At least, until we get a vaccine? – The Atlantic

Less than a week after management negotiated the first contract with newly-unionized employees, WBUR leaders announced a reorganization, which they said was made necessary by the COVID-related recession, that includes the reduction of staff numbers by more than 10% and cancellation of the nationally syndicated program Only a Game. (Similar job losses were announced this week at WBEZ in Chicago and at Minnesota Public Radio.) – Boston.com

Jessa Crispin: “Despite being pretty in a Getty-stock-image kind of way, and despite being a successful holistic health and beauty expert, Kristy has not yet found her fantasy husband. So she has turned to reality television programming to help her out. That’s the premise of the new show Labor of Love, in which 15 men compete to be the ‘one’ honored with impregnating the show’s heroine. As I watched her journey toward motherhood unfold, I thought, finally. Finally, someone has found a way to make a buck off the fracturing of the American family.” – The Guardian

American Public Media, the Minnesota-based public radio network that produced the shows, announced the layoff of 28 employees and the immediate end of the weekly program that was heard on roughly 600 local public radio affiliates and drew an estimated audience of 2.6 million. APM attributed the decision to “our pressing financial deficit due to COVID-19 and the priorities of our long-term strategic plan.” – Billboard

For the last several decades, that “feel-good” TV cop story has shaped our understanding of law enforcement. Dozens of police procedurals dominate TV networks, with millions of viewers tuning in to see hero narratives play out on screen. Fans devour series such as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Hawaii Five-0” and others. Yet it is rare to find a cop show that holds a mirror up to the flawed institution. – Huffington Post

Australia’s news outlets have seen their advertising models collapse, and regulators propose charging social media platforms when they carry news stories. “In its submission to the watchdog, Facebook said it rejected many of the ACCC’s potential ideas, and said there was a “healthy rivalry” between itself and news organisations.” – The Guardian

For years now activists have been attempting to cancel the Confederate flag and eliminate other monuments to the fallen Confederacy, along with removing the names of former slave owners and white supremacists that continue to adorn buildings on various school and college campuses, among numerous other attempts to destroy the legacy of the slaveholding south that was supposed to have died with the end of the civil war. We can now add films celebratory of this defeated legacy like Gone With the Wind to the list as well. – The Guardian

Bilge Ebiri thinks there have been enough Oscar-worthy films released already this year to fill out a nomination roster. “Most are the kinds of movies that would have had a hard time standing out in the high-stakes cacophony of a traditional Oscars race — not because they don’t rate, but because they don’t come from capital-A auteurs and/or aren’t backed by big studio spending sprees. The Academy’s decision seems, in some ways, like a slap in the face to those films, as if the Oscars were saying to them that even though they’re technically eligible, they should sit back and wait for the big boys to come out and grab their trophies.” – Vulture