Democracy

Frances Haugen Senate Testimony Exposes Facebook Algorithmic Harm to Children and Democracy

2021-10-05 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen testifies before the U.S. Senate that Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken democracy, backed by tens of thousands of internal company documents showing Facebook executives knew about Instagram’s severe mental health …

Frances Haugen Facebook Mark Zuckerberg U.S. Senate Richard Blumenthal facebook whistleblower frances-haugen algorithm-harm teen-mental-health +5 more

Florida Voters Approve Amendment 4 Restoring Voting Rights to 1.4 Million with Felony Convictions

2018-11-06 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

Florida voters approve Amendment 4 by 64.55%, automatically restoring voting rights to an estimated 1.4 million Floridians with past felony convictions who have completed their sentences. The constitutional amendment represents the largest expansion of voting rights in the United States since the …

Florida voters Desmond Meade Florida Rights Restoration Coalition voting-rights florida felony-disenfranchisement amendment-4 democracy

Flint Water Crisis (2014-2024) - 12,000 Children Poisoned, Zero Accountability

2014-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

The Flint water crisis (2014-2024) stands as one of the most egregious examples of environmental racism and governmental failure in modern American history: a decade-long catastrophe in which state officials poisoned thousands of children to save money, lied about it for 18 months, and ultimately …

Rick Snyder Darnell Earley Mona Hanna-Attisha LeeAnne Walters Marc Edwards flint-water-crisis environmental-racism emergency-manager accountability lead-poisoning +1 more

Michigan Emergency Manager Seizes Control of Flint, Stripping Democratic Governance

2011-11-29 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appoints Michael Brown as emergency manager of Flint, effectively stripping all power from the city’s democratically elected mayor and city council under Public Act 4 of 2011. The law, signed by Snyder on March 16, 2011, granted appointed emergency managers …

Rick Snyder Michael Brown Flint City Government emergency-manager democracy flint-water-crisis michigan Rick-Snyder

Telecommunications Act Triggers Mass Layoffs and Destruction of Local Journalism

1996-12-31 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

The Telecommunications Act of 1996’s media consolidation provisions trigger massive job losses across American journalism, gutting local news coverage and professional media employment. In radio alone, cities that once had 100 jobs for radio professionals now have perhaps 20, an 80% reduction …

Media Conglomerates Local News Stations Radio Journalists Newspaper Reporters FCC Federal Communications Commission telecommunications media-consolidation journalism-decline layoffs local-news +2 more