Elon Musk has his fingers in many pies – internet in warzones, a Twitter buyout, and peacemaker posturing. Plus, the UK media vs the labour movement.
Not content with manufacturing cars, generating energy, getting into space travel – Elon Musk is in the midst of a $44bn takeover of Twitter. Now he has also been involved in foreign policy conflicts – from Russia-Ukraine to China and Taiwan. Musk clearly considers himself a geopolitical player, but he is entering a world in which he has no expertise, just interests.
Contributors:
Chris Stokel-Walker – Technology journalist & author, TikTokBoom
Peter Micek – General counsel, Access Now
Jason Jay Smart – Special correspondent, Kyiv Post
Siva Vaidhyanathan – Professor of media studies, University of Virginia; author, Anti-social Media
On our radar:
Rupert Murdoch is on the verge of yet another business move, wanting to combine the two halves of his media empire: the TV side – Fox Corp – with the online news business – News Corp. Producer Meenakshi Ravi explores how the merger is much more an exercise in succession planning than a business deal in itself.
Striking Back: UK’s Unions vs the Media
With the United Kingdom in a state of political disarray, a rare wave of work stoppages has put trade unions – and the media’s treatment of them – into the spotlight. Following successive rail strikes, right-wing newspapers have blamed the unions for travel disruptions, but one union leader – Mick Lynch – has flipped the script – putting journalists on the defensive over their habitual anti-union approach. Daniel Turi reports on the coverage of labour issues in the British media.
Contributors:
Aditya Chakrabortty – Senior economics commentator, The Guardian
Julia Langdon – Former political editor, The Sunday Telegraph; former political editor, The Daily Mirror; chairwoman, British Journalism Review
Nicholas Jones – Former industrial correspondent, BBC
