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Day: August 11, 2018

Profit, Not Free Speech, Governs Media Companies’ Decisions on Controversy

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United States (Conversation) – For decades, U.S. media companies have limited the content they’ve offered based on what’s good for business. The decisions by Apple, Spotify, Facebook and YouTube to remove content from commentator Alex Jones and his InfoWars platform follow this same pattern. My research on media industries makes clear that government rules and regulations do little to limit what television shows, films, music albums, video games and social media content are available to the public. Business concerns about profitability are much stronger restrictions. Movies are given ratings based…

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Monsanto Ordered to Pay $289Mln to Dying Man for Causing Cancer

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California (Sputnik) –  A Californian jury has ordered Monsanto to pay close to $290 million to a dying man who said the chemical giant’s weedkiller gave him cancer, local media reported, citing the ruling. The jury deliberated for three days before concluding that the firm had failed to warn its clients about cancer risks associated with the product’s main ingredient, glyphosate, USA Today reported. Judge Suzanne Ramos Bolanos said in court Monsanto, which was acquired in June by German pharma giant Bayer, “acted with malice, oppression or fraud and should be punished for its conduct.” The 46-year-old plaintiff, DeWayne Johnson,…

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South Sudan: No Amnesty for War Crimes

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  (HRW) – South Sudanese leaders should not undermine their efforts to bring an end to the country’s devastating conflict with an amnesty for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said. The parties to the conflict signed a peace agreement on August 5, 2018, in Khartoum, agreeing to new power sharing arrangements and a timetable for further talks. On August 8, President Salva Kiir offered a “general amnesty” to heads of armed groups involved in the nation’s five-year civil war as part of the agreement to end…

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