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— How was the (endless, overstuffed) coverage of the royal funeral? Not enough talk about colonialism, imho. Opinions vary. “Mostly U.S. anchors avoided much commentary on the apparently ongoing rift between Harry and Meghan and the rest of the royal family,” writes Marisa Guthrie. “For that, one could turn to Fox News and persistent Meghan Markle critic Piers Morgan, who has a program on Fox Nation, and Sharon Osbourne.” (WWD)
— “A school district in Pennsylvania has banned the Girls Who Code book series for young readers, according to an index of banned books compiled by the free expression non-profit Pen America.” (Guardian)
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— In the grand old tradition of the National Media State chart, Rani Molla and Peter Kafka do an amazing job showing us Who-Owns-What-in-Big-Media today. (Vox)
— Kara Swisher talks to Chris Cuomo, formerly of CNN, about — well, you know. #ThatThing (Intelligencer)
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— Dexter Filkins on the exiled dissident fueling the Iranian protests. “Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist who was driven into exile thirteen years ago, has helped galvanize the country’s women, amassing some ten million followers on her social-media sites and spurring them to trash the most potent symbol of the regime’s legalized gender-apartheid: the hijab, the hair covering mandated for every adult woman,” he writes. (NewYorker)
— Does gossip sell movie tickets? (VF)
— Vladimir Putin has granted Edward Snowden Russian citizenship. “According to RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency, Mr. Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said that his client would not be eligible for the ‘partial mobilization’ that Mr. Putin declared last week to bolster his country’s forces in the war in Ukraine,” writes Alan Yuhas in the Times. “Mr. Kucherena said that Mr. Snowden was ineligible for the draft because he had no experience in the Russian Army.” (NYTimes)
— Inside the Battle for the Latino Vote. Jarod Focundo focuses in on the Latino vote in Colorado. Most of the Latino vote and the Democrat Party hand-wringing involves intense analysis of South Florida and rural Texas. There’s a larger story to be told, of course. Focundo goes door-to-door, canvassing with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) Action Fund. “Meanwhile, one of the most jaded voters we spoke with saw the entire political system as corrupt, instead praising people like the Mexican drug lord El Chapo as being a ruthless figure to Mexico’s elite, but a benevolent one for the country’s poorest,” he writes. “Even though this was the only instance I saw of such remarks, Bustamante explained that it’s a common refrain she’s heard in her work.” (American Prospect)
— The elegant Christina Oxenberg, my “favorite,” on how her mother, Princess Elizabeth Oxenberg’s passion was thwarted by the naughty, reckless and amoral Peter Beard. (YouTube)
— HuffPost journalist Andy Campbell, author of the new book, “We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered In a New Era of America” is interviewed by the American journalist Amy Goodman. Gavin McInnes, who was Vice’s editorial voice until as recently as 2008, is the founder of Proud Boys. He is also the author of the stupid sentence, “wearing a Trump shirt in Florida is like wearing a Rolling Stones shirt at a Rolling Stones concert.” Of that notorious Street Gang, Campbell writes: “And they’ve normalized this political violence by sidling up to the top levels of the GOP, including Trump’s confidant, Roger Stone. So they have friendships in the GOP. They have friendships in media: Fox News celebrates these guys. And they have support from a wide swath of the American right.” (Democracy Now)
— “It just has always been a mediocre ride,” says Charlize Theron about her level of fame. “I’ve never been one of those people that’s at a Kim Kardashian level.” (Harper’s Bazaar)
— Ray J — mirabile dictu! — notes that the Kim Kardashian sex tape is still making money. (MTO)
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— NPR’s Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg is a media darling to many in the chattering classes. She also, curiously, shares friendships with many of the most dangerous elements on the Court. “In late June 2008, the gun lobby won its most important Supreme Court victory, in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, a decision written by Antonin Scalia that overturned a handgun ban in the nation’s capital and created out of whole cloth a right to bear arms irrespective of membership in a militia,” Jeet Heer writes. “A few days after the decision, Nina Totenberg, National Public Radio’s legal affairs correspondent, threw a party where Scalia was a guest.” Charmed, I’m sure! (The Nation)
— Comedian Billy Eichner recalls being told early in his career that he was “too gay” to be on TV. Sort of like the time, not too long ago, when the common saw in Hollywood was that African-Americans could not, pre-Black Panther, open a film internationally — aka, Black films don’t travel. *Sighs* Good times! (Mediaite)
— Trump’s Truth Social aint doing so good. (Reuters)
— How Normalization in Media happens. (Brendan Nyhan)