Facebook’s bare-knuckle tactics are just one sign of a media culture that philanthropy can help fix

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” So proclaims the fictional Howard Beale in the 1976 film classic Network. And now Beale’s mantra will ring out nightly in an electrifying new stage production featuring Bryan Cranston that opens on Broadway this week. When the film first appeared, it revealed a dystopian world where commercial media companies would harness rage for profit. And now the theatrical adaptation serves to remind us how we got here, to an age when commercial media companies harness rage for profit. Today, the radical howl of a mad prophet has become the implied mission statement of every cable-news host, as well as every blogger and social-media personality on the planet, seeking fame and glory and advertising dollars. Unfortunately the constant drone of rage and vitriol obscures sound and factual information needed to conduct thoughtful public-policy debates. What can philanthropy do to counter this unhealthy social dynamic? Perhaps it’s time for foundations to support social-media projects and platforms that will enlighten and inform users without regard to the interest of advertisers and investors. Recent revelations that Facebook adopted aggressive tactics to counter critics like philanthropist George Soros and civil-rights advocates at Color of Change have… Read More

It's been a rough month for the truth in America. Disputes over "alternative facts" from the White House on crowd size and voter fraud have been coupled with attempts to muzzle government agencies accustomed to sharing their research with the public. Scientists are gearing up to march on Washington, and even The Onion's satire about Sean Spicer's dissembling rings disturbingly true. Read More