Public Knowledge’s Post

PREVENT ABUSE OF STATE ADVERTISING Together with 14 media freedom and civil society organisations were calling on the European Parliament to strengthen the European Media Freedom Act to prevent governments abusing state advertising. We're asking the European Parliament to ensure there is: ✅ No reintroduction of the “1 million inhabitants” threshold for publishing information regarding state advertising. ✅ An EU-wide online database of state advertising that is easily accessible for the general public and which journalists and civil society can use to connect seemingly unrelated occurrences of public revenue allocation. ✅ Full inclusion of emergency messages, as introduced by Article 2 (15 a) of the Report of the CULT Committee, in the concept of state advertising, to prevent authorities from using catastrophes or states of emergency as justification for funding politically affiliated or friendly media. ✅ Regular and mandatory reporting obligations for authorities which are fully transparent and show the full allocation of state advertising, and which include information on media ownership. The reporting must be available to relevant independent and accountable regulators and resulting reports to all stakeholders. ✅ Monitoring of state advertising and state aid allocation to media, ensuring that enough data is collected by the Commission on the true state of these resources in a centralised manner. See the full letter 🔽 #EMFA #MediaFreedomAct #MediaFreedom https://lnkd.in/d-7NeMYa

Rep. Kate C. Farrar (D-West Hartford) is proposing that the state of Connecticut use at least 50% of its government advertising budget–upwards of $5 million–with local news outlets. "Farrar told CT Examiner that it’s critical that the state do its part to help media outlets, especially smaller ones, which she called sacred to a democracy." Read more at The Connecticut Examiner: https://lnkd.in/gZp_J7PY #Connecticut #LocalNews #Journalism #Advertising #Revenue #PublicPolicy #RebuildLocalNews

Great piece from Faris on the need for / lack of trust, more than truth when it comes to politics, elections, and media. He wrote that in the UK and US, there are no rules for political advertising, or the way politicians can use media and IA. In France where we're in the middle of sudden and confusing legislative elections. The population is shocked. The extreme right party National Rally has so successfully rebranded (supported by big media owners), that even though it was founded by Nazi collaborators, with a clearly racist, xenophobic, and anti-semitic history, now they have a lot of media time firmly calling out opponents on the left hand side of the political spectrum for being anti-semitic with no one batting an eye lid or challenging them about their own views. It doesn't matter what they say or what the truth is, they are massively trusted: 4 out of 10 French voters placed their trust with them for the European elections (and expressed distrust for the party in power). From the article, creativity and emotional appeal directed at ways to garner and increase trust may be more effective than spreading more information trying to get at truth. A possible tricky point about that, is it's correct regardless of the ideas one wishes to spread. The final point in the article is that we're not ready for how weird things might get. The weird-meter has suddenly shot up high in France, go figure what's likely to happen in the UK and US soon. It reminds me that a few months ago I had a chance to see Dave Chappelle on stage in Paris (he's a super famous stand-up comedian. He's also controversial for some, though I think that's besides my point here). It was late, it was a work in progress show. He happened to hang out and chat with the audience for a while, asking what people wanted him to talk about. People kept asking about Israel and Palestine. I remember thinking we're living in pretty weird times when concerned people are turning to a stand-up comedian for wisdom and guidance about international political and religious conflicts (our modern fools and jesters), regardless of how talented, famous, or controversial they may be. It does seem the most trusted people these days are pop culture celebrities: comedians, social media influencers, athletes, musicians, actors, chefs, reality TV personalities, etc. On stage that night, Dave ended up giving us a poignant speech; saying that while he didn't have the answers, he was convinced that if only we lent an ear and listened to one another, spent time together, in a room, interacting, then we would find out we're not all that different. It seems simple. Perhaps spending time with and listening to the people we're closest to, is the way to build trust in the idea that we're all in this together. Thinking about creatively dramatising this into a positive message like a great advert would, to garner trust, sounds like a great challenge.

Quality News, reporters and editors all cost money. Archiving worthless opinions in order to sell ad in your search monopoly disguised as news destroys the sustainability of Real News and quality reporter’s ability to make a living. We need to know the societal price of Googling News. Ultimately, it is an informed democracy that is at stake when the voters get bad info and turn dumb.

We are concerned over the suggested implementation timeline of the Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising. We have seen proposals to drastically reduce (to just a few months) the time allocated to political ads publishers to work towards compliance for at least some of the new requirements proposed in the draft Regulation. 1️⃣ It would be very difficult to implement important technological changes in such a short timeframe. 2️⃣ While the initial proposal clarified the roles and responsibilities of each actor, a phased compliance timeline poses a risk of confusion and contradiction in the way the proposal is applied (e.g., a political ad must be declared as such before requirements deriving from this status are triggered). Read our full statement, sent out to policymakers last friday: https://bit.ly/49eNG73

The Competition Commission's #MediaMarketInquiry delves into digital platforms' impact on the news industry, examining competition distortions tied to search algorithms and programmatic advertising – a crucial probe impacting the future of journalism. #DigitalPlatforms #NewsMedia https://lnkd.in/eA7SbHHS

OUTFRONT’s Political Avoidance Network does not accept political advertising (OUTFRONT): For advertisers seeking brand safety, OUTFRONT’s Political Avoidance Network is the haven you’ve been looking for. On these 2,000-plus billboard assets plus our transit media offerings, brands need not worry about their messaging running alongside troublesome political content. That’s right, there is absolutely no political advertising allowed on this network. #DOOH #digitalbillboards #digitalsignage

Rate analysis reporting is critical for compliance with FCC rules about pricing political radio spots. Learn how it works and keeps you compliant without manual work. #radio #rateanalysis #politicaladvertising https://ow.ly/RHh050SBJsO

This year, an estimated $10 billion is slated to be spent on political advertising. For advertisers looking to make a lasting impression, reaching voters where they increasingly spend their time is crucial. Get the report to discover why Connected TV and programmatic buying will be the standout advantage for political campaigns in 2024, and how you can use these tools to help supercharge your strategy.

Explore why radio political advertising creates the most reach and how to position this to political ad buyers. #politicaladvertising #radio #massmedia #reach #election2024 #localmediasellers https://ow.ly/zzb350Ru1bz