Bilal Baydoun

Richest 0.001% Now Own Three Times More Wealth Than Poorest Half of Humanity Combined | Common Dreams A landmark report on global inequality shows that the chasm between the richest slice of humanity and everyone else continued to expand this year

The richest 0.001% now have three times as much wealth as the poorer half of humanity combined.

www.commondreams.org/news/world-i...

Useful thread!

"today’s media crisis wasn’t inevitable but the consequence of policymakers’ embracing a corporate libertarian approach to media policy." 🔥

A New Roosevelt Institute Report Confronts the Roots of Our Media Crisis—and Calls for Breaking Up Corporate Media Today’s journalism crisis wasn’t inevitable, but it’s time to free journalism from the straitjacket of turning a democratic obligation into a profit-maximizing business model.

When journalism is trapped inside a commercial straitjacket, it can’t fight back.

Our new piece on how hyper commercialism, oligarchy, and state coercion have converged to threaten the press — based on our recent @rooseveltinstitute.org report.

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

A New Roosevelt Institute Report Confronts the Roots of Our Media Crisis—and Calls for Breaking Up Corporate Media Today’s journalism crisis wasn’t inevitable, but it’s time to free journalism from the straitjacket of turning a democratic obligation into a profit-maximizing business model.

New @thenation.com piece by @bilalb.bsky.social, @shahrzadshams.bsky.social and myself that draws from our recent @rooseveltinstitute.org report to argue for structural media reform: www.thenation.com/article/soci...

The Political Economy of the US Media System: Excavating the Roots of the Present Crisis - Roosevelt Institute Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard trace the roots of the US media crisis to decades of deregulation and commercial capture, outlining how consolidation, news deserts, and platform domi...

Over at the @rooseveltinstitute.org, a new report by @bilalb.bsky.social, @shahrzadshams.bsky.social, and @victorpickard.bsky.social examines the political economy of the US media system.

"[D]ecades of market-first policymaking has systematically eroded the media’s democratic function... consolidation that concentrated power in fewer hands, the abandonment of meaningful public-interest standards, and the rise of platform monopolies with virtually no accountability."

Really excited to share this new report I wrote with my brilliant colleagues, @bilalb.bsky.social & @victorpickard.bsky.social!

We explore the roots of the crises facing our media system & argue that a truly democratic information ecosystem must be protected from both state *&* commercial coercion⤵️

New from @rooseveltinstitute.org @bilalb.bsky.social @victorpickard.bsky.social @shahrzadshams.bsky.social "The next chapter of democracy reform must treat our media system as a core infrastructure that makes democracy possible & thus demands protection from both state control & commercial capture."

The Political Economy of the US Media System: Excavating the Roots of the Present Crisis - Roosevelt Institute Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard trace the roots of the US media crisis to decades of deregulation and commercial capture, outlining how consolidation, news deserts, and platform domi...

The real con, says Director of Democratic Institutions @bilalb.bsky.social: A tax giveaway to billionaires while starving communities of healthcare, food assistance, and reliable public media sources.

Here’s some intel on the impact on the media: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

"When commercial imperatives override democratic needs, and when policymakers treat media as just another market rather than essential civic infrastructure, we create a media system susceptible to pressure from all directions."

A big part of the erosion of democracy is corporate capture of news media. This is a crucial report. Thanks @rooseveltinstitute.org

The Political Economy of the US Media System: Excavating the Roots of the Present Crisis - Roosevelt Institute Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard trace the roots of the US media crisis to decades of deregulation and commercial capture, outlining how consolidation, news deserts, and platform domi...

Any serious agenda for democratic renewal requires us to recognize that news should be treated as a public good, not a commodity.
rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

The Political Economy of the US Media System: Excavating the Roots of the Present Crisis - Roosevelt Institute Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard trace the roots of the US media crisis to decades of deregulation and commercial capture, outlining how consolidation, news deserts, and platform domi...

"Market supremacy has shrunk both our understanding of what a civic information economy ought to provide in a democracy, and our imagination about how to better guarantee the public access to reliable, diverse information."

new from @rooseveltinstitute.org rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

spoiler: mass media consolidated in the hands of ad-based corporations owned by a handful of right wing billionaires is easily exploited by a wide variety of bad actors and fatal to democracy and informed consensus

"The crisis facing American journalism is the predictable outcome of decades of corporate libertarian media policy that prioritized commercial logics over democracy."

Image of a newspaper stand. To the right, a quote from authors Bilal Baydoun, Victor Pickard, and Shahrzad Shams: "Market supremacy has shrunk both our understanding of what a civic information economy ought to provide in a democracy, and our imagination about how to better guarantee the public access to reliable, diverse information.”

NEW📰: Democracy requires both an informed citizenry and a free press. But how do these ideals show up in public policy?

Today, we have a paper out that looks at how media has become highly concentrated, commercialized, and drained of its public interest potential.

The Political Economy of the US Media System: Excavating the Roots of the Present Crisis - Roosevelt Institute Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard trace the roots of the US media crisis to decades of deregulation and commercial capture, outlining how consolidation, news deserts, and platform domi...

A new report from MIC Co-Director @victorpickard.bsky.social
as well as @shahrzadshams.bsky.social and @bilalb.bsky.social maps the political economy behind today’s media crisis and asks the urgent question:

What would a media system designed to strengthen democracy actually look like?

The question ahead is simple: should our media system primarily serve democracy or profit? Rebuilding public media, regulating platforms, and reviving the public interest are essential to a media system capable of both resisting authoritarian pressure and serving our democratic aspirations.

The commercial logics at the core of our media system and turbocharged by its neoliberalization were always at odds with journalism's democratic role.

Journalism has been forced to turn a democratic obligation into a profitable business model, with catastrophic results.

5/6

In an oligarchic age, where billionaires can buy entire newspapers for pennies on the dollar while bankrolling political campaigns and commanding powerful positions in government themselves, the line between state-run media and state-aligned media through private means can be vanishingly thin.

4/6

But these threats and attacks have rippled across a media ecosystem buckling under the weight of commercial pressure, forged by policy over decades. This is why our report stresses the need to protect a free press from both state AND commercial coercion.

3/6

Around the globe, authoritarians target the press to ultimately control it.

This administration has launched what amounts to a multi-front attack on the press, combining legal harassment, access restrictions, funding cuts, and rhetorical attacks to undermine independent journalism.

2/6

Thrilled for our new @rooseveltinstitute.org report to be out in the world!

A few thoughts on why this matters today, and why media policy and structural media reform must be central to a broader pro-democracy movement:

🧵🧵🧵🧵

The Political Economy of the US Media System: Excavating the Roots of the Present Crisis - Roosevelt Institute Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard trace the roots of the US media crisis to decades of deregulation and commercial capture, outlining how consolidation, news deserts, and platform domi...

Thrilled to announce the publication of our @rooseveltinstitute.org report that uncovers the policy roots of the current crises facing our news, information & communication systems. We argue that media reform must become central to a US pro-democracy movement. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight Public Media: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...

His Arabic is really good lol. The ع could use a boost but I thought it was AI.

"Truly democratic and engaged journalism requires...that journalism serves not just profit imperatives, but addresses people’s needs, tells their stories, and goes to where the silences are throughout society."

As Americans' trust in the media declines, a 🎯 take on how we can restore trust.