Border Crossings, Australian Marches, Media Assets
March 17, 2021
Yesterday’s Newsletter / March 17, 2021
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Child border crossings surge as US DHS chief defends policies
Summary: The Director of Homeland Security for the United States has said that the country is seeing very high numbers of attempted Mexican border crossings, which represents a challenge for the Biden administration, which is still sorting out how to deal the people who have already attempted to cross the border under this administration and the previous one.
Context: This is becoming a tricky political situation for the Biden administration, as no one anywhere on the typical American political spectrum will be happy with anything he does, but also because there doesn’t seem to be a quick, humane, and inexpensive way to reunite children and parents who were separated after crossing the border under the Trump administration, while also giving folks who wish to apply for a path to citizenship a clear and broadly acceptable (to them and to most existing Americans) way of doing so.
—The Associated Press
Women march for justice in Australia as rape claims hit highest levels of office
Summary: On Monday, thousands of Australians attended marches intended to draw attention to the prevalence of violence against women in the country—marches that were sparked by a wave of sexual assault, abuse, and rape allegations against some of Australia’s most powerful politicians.
Context: These marches are taking place within the same general context as similar marches and movements elsewhere around the world, most of which are focused on calling out people who have gotten away with at times criminal, at other times simply morally repugnant behavior towards women; this round of marches were catalyzed by a former government staff member going public with her experience of having been raped in the Australia’s Parliament building.
—The Washington Post
China asks Alibaba to shed media assets, including SCMP
Summary: The Chinese government has asked Alibaba to divest itself of its media assets, including the storied 117-year-old English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post.
Context: This “request” is part of a larger process through which the Chinese government seems to be attempting to de-fang large Chinese corporations—especially those connected to various technology sectors, and starting with mega-corporations like Alibaba—possibly with the intention of keeping them from competing with the government in terms of regional influence and power; a process that began when the head of Alibaba, Jack Ma, fell out of lockstep with the government in some particulars when speaking in public forums.
—Nikkei Asia
Visual
30%
Percentage of the most popular news sources in the US state of Pennsylvania that are untrustworthy, according to a study entitled The Pennsylvania Media Trust Report conducted and published by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Many of these untrustworthy sites are partisan entities pretending to be unbiased sources of news, but some are just badly produced, with little credibility and existing primarily as a means of generating advertising revenue at the lowest possible cost.
—The Lenfest Institute
Trust click
Yesterday’s Newsletter is published by analytic journalist and host of the Let’s Know Things podcast, Colin Wright.