Mediaboss Marketing

Katie Hopkins entering the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2015. Photograph: Ian West/PA

Barely four minutes after the conclusion of the most recent Celebrity Big Brother, I am intrigued to see a rash of headlines speculating as to who will be in the summer line-up. Previously a once-a-year-event, Celebrity Big Brother now appears to be a rolling facility a sort of career spa to which celebrities can repair to take the waters when recovering from the other formats. Just as the jet set use the seasons as a verb to describe the migration from Gstaad to the Amalfi coast, there are now people who winter in the jungle and summer in Elstree.

And yet, is it not time to give these shows a thermonuclear modern boost? In short: when is reality television going to accept its new repertory company, and formally embrace the alt-right? Admittedly it has dipped in the toe of its hazmat suit Katie Hopkins has done a grand tour of the formats. But in an age where the most prominent political satire on TV is a panel show onits 52nd series, I should like to see a dedicated far-right edition of Celebrity Big Brother. Or Im a Celebrity. Or Celebrity Survivor. Or any of them, really, except Love Island.

There are easily enough characters available now, and Im sure the last thing they would be is too chicken to bring their ideas to an even wider audience. Hopkins could be persuaded back, obviously. Then theres Milo Yiannopoulos, and that Paul Joseph Watson who broadcasts to Infowars from Battersea, of all hilarious locations. Another tweedily bespectacled one popped up on Channel 4 news this week with comments so silly that I yearned to see him forced to repeat them at Tribal Council and not get picked off. And Im sure you could get a couple of the American ones over.

When a reality star was elected US president, there was a sense that the genre had no mountains left to climb. Yet given how well suited the relentless attention-seeking of the far right is to reality TV, perhaps that is not the case. People say that sunlight is the best disinfectant, but the actual best disinfectant is being cloistered in a McMansion or on an island, and forced to fight and scheme your way to dominance while everyone at home shrieks at how unbelievably ghastly you are. Please just picture Milo having to cooperate with Katie in a raft-building challenge, and tell me there wouldnt be tears before bedtime. And tears of laughter for us, of course. If only British TV commissioning editors werent so serially frightened. At some point they should at least consider confronting the age, before aneven worse one comes along.

More:
The next Celebrity Big Brother? It'll be alt-right on the night | Life and ... - The Guardian

ROMEWhen covering PopeFrancis, the story is often reduced to liberals versus traditionalists. Yet spending 15 minutes at a bar in Rome, or pretty much anywhere else in the world with a semi-strong Catholic culture, would prove that not everything is so black and white.

In reality, the vast majority of Catholics sit in the middle, not to mention those interested in the Church even though they might profess another faith, consider themselves religiously unaffiliated or deny the existence of God.

Often, I find myself working from a Roman bar or coffee shop. Sometime thats because Im in-between meetings, or working on a deadline, or simply trying to avoid the temptation (I wish!) of doing laundry and cleaning. In any event, Ive continued this tradition I picked up from my mom back in Argentina.

In an attempt to improve my Italian skills, when I can afford the time, I try to engage whoever is around me in conversation, and after two or three sentences, the cat comes out of the bag: Im a reporter covering the Vatican.

This usually leads to a monologue from the other person.

Some people throw out theusual concatenation of misinformed and misguided facts, ranging from the pope has one lung to how can the Church speak about x, y or z when every priest is a pedophile?

But more often than not, I run into one of the many Catholics in the middle, who listens to and respect the popes because the office comes before the person. These are generally people who see in Francis a man whos done many good things, but also some they find questionable.

A minority of the men and women I speak with have actually read Franciss document on the family Amoris Laetitia, and they often ask me what all the buzz is about: Most never read footnotes, including the famous footnote 351 on the divorced and civilly remarried. Then there are those who have read it all, and who usually say they wish the pope had been more black or white, or had made it part of the text, or had not included it at all.

But beyond this document, virtually everyone I engage with has a list of both praise and criticism, which doesnt make them either Francis-haters or Francis-lovers.

The pope himself has said on several occasionsthat he appreciates criticism.

Yet, more and more, the voices of those capable of both praise and reproachare missing from the conversations being held in the media: they dont hold press conferences, nor do they send out snarky tweets. Finding them requires looking beyond the contacts tab in smart phones and emails.

It implies getting out of the comfort zone, to engage those who might not agree with ones view. It also implies leaving aside the preconceptions on all sides.

I meet people who reduce those who want to raise any criticism regarding the pope to a small set of extremist cardinals who nobody likes anyway, wearing all this medieval plumage cheered by groups of ultra-traditionalists who believe the earth is flat and it doesnt revolve around the sun.

Then there are those who reduce Franciss supporters to kumbaya-dancing, tree-hugging, papal Kool-Aid drinkers who are incapable of perceiving the Argentine pontiff as anything other than Gods greatest gift to humanity.

Though both of those extreme categories do exist, the majority of those who dare say something outside the pope good-pope bad narrative are not deeply weird lunatics.

They might often come offas if they are, however, because for a liberal [or, for that matter, conservative] media to include the voice of a smart, articulate alternativevoice that doesnt fit the frame is apostasy.

And yes, there are articulate voices on both sides of the trenches. Ive met them, run into them at random places in Rome.

Most of those folks, however, are found far away from the magic realm of Twitter, because strong and nuanced arguments can rarely be made in 140 characters.

For journalists to reduce thecoverage of the Catholic Church to supporters v. enemies of the pope is too easy an exercise.

Sure, five minutes on Twitter will confirm that there are people blindly supportive of and blindly hostile toFrancis, of his predecessorsor the Church in general, just like there are people out there extremely in favor of or against Tom Brady and those wholove to hate Roger Federer, or hate those who dont love him.

But this reductionist take doesnt do justice to how most people actually think. It does nothing to address the real conversations being had at coffee shops or among friends all over the world.

Even worse, it deepens this seemingly unstoppable trend towardsgated societies, where we only interact with people who think like us, dress like us and binge-watch the same TV shows that we do.

Thus, the challenge for journalists those covering the Church, and beyond becomes being able to reach out to every side, listen to what they have to say and give them a fair shot at expressing their points of view.

Perhaps that would lead to authentic conversations, and not only with random strangers in coffee shops and bars.

Continued here:
Media frame of 'Francis-lovers v. alt-right wackos' doesn't cut it - Crux: Covering all things Catholic

Netflix debuted the teaser trailer for their original series Dear White People earlier today and wouldnt you know it, some very predictable people werent pleased! A summation of the 34-second teaser might be blackface is bad! which most sane, compassionate individuals would agree with. But if the internet were populated only by the sane and compassionate, wed never have hashtags like #BoycottNetflix.

Twitter usersincluding former Buzzfeed employee and #TrumpCup creator Baked Alaskahave been posting pictures of their cancellations to the video streaming service today in preparation for the seriess April 28 debut. Multiple threads have also cropped up on 4chans /pol/ board and Reddits r/the_donald, the most egregious and upsetting of which is simply titled Netflix Original: Dear White People. It contains only a photo of the young man kidnapped in Chicago last month, bound and gagged. Is the implication that this show existing on a platform where users can elect not to watch it is in any way similar to a criminal hostage situation? Who fucking knows.

The gist of online umbrage around Dear White People is that its being perceived by some extremely thin-skinned people as anti-white. Strangely there were no calls to boycott theaters when the movie this series is based onalso called Dear White Peopledebuted in 2014, or when the deal between Lionsgate and Netflix was announced last year.

Then again, those in need of a safe space to be racist have been boycotting a whole lot lately. /pol/s Discord chat spent much of the Super Bowl issuing boycotts against companies whose commercials hurt their feelingsincluding Kia, Audi, Budweiser, and T-Mobile. Prior to that, Starbucks was threatened with a boycott of sorts (again) after pledging to hire 10,000 refugees. Back in November a similar online contingent threatened to boycott companies as far-ranging as Pepsi, ConAgra, Facebook, and Tic Tacs (Netflix made that list too.)

As the country becomes increasingly politically divided, those on both sides of the aisle have been making their voices heard with their wallets. A leftist boycott of Uber for its association with the Trump administration resulted in an apology from CEO Travis Kalanick and his resignation from Trumps Strategic and Policy Forum.

Some protests work. This one wont.

View post:
Alt-Right Dickheads Bravely Cancel Their Netflix Subscriptions Over 'Dear White People' - Gizmodo

The controversial character who attacks multiculturalism came under fire on Channel 4 news

RIGHT-winger Jack Buckby caused controversy when he told a student campaigner I hope you dont get raped during a live TV debate about Syrian refugees.

The 24-year-old alt-right activist has often hit the headlines during his short career in politics but who is he?

Jack Buckby studied politics before being kicked out of university after protesting againt a Muslim speaker.

He claimed they were going to justify the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby who was killed by two men who converted to Islam.

After going the BNP he was tipped to become a future leading figure within the party during his stint as a member of its youth wing the BNP Crusaders.

But it didn't last long, as the youngster later quit the party over concerns its views had become "racist."

He is now working as a press officer for Liberty GB and stood for election in the European Elections in 2014.

Heinfamously contested the Batley and Spen by-election seat after Jo Cox MP's tragic murder - despiteall major political parties saying they would abstain out of respect.

The activistconsiders himself to be a "paleoconservative and a culturist" who doesn't believe multiculturalism works.

His party Liberty GB wants to ban all immigration to Britain for five years.

Nationalist Richard Spencer coined the term alt-right in 2010.

It stands for people with far-right ideologies whooftenbecome notorious for their views on race, religion and gender.

Alt-right, short for alterntive right, has become a buzz word in mainstream media.

It is a broad, outspoken movementthat attacks multiculturalism, globalisation and immigration.

The Anti-Defamation League defines it as a vague termabout extremists "who reject mainstream conservatism in favor of forms of conservatism that embrace implicit or explicit racism or white supremacy".

Those writing under the umbrella termdiffer on many points but common targets include the establishment, feminism and political correctness.

The group supported President-elect Donald Trump in the US presidential race.

Those associated with the group which has no clear ideology or membership operate mostly through social media.

Buckby appeared on Channel 4 News to debate the alt-right movement with a political activist from the National Union of Students black students' campaign.

Right-wing activist Jack Buckby handeda refugee application form toBarbara Ntumy during a live discussion on Channel 4 News.

He told her to "put her money where her mouth is", adding: "Take one home, take in a Syrian refugee. I hope you dont get raped.

His remark left Ntumy lost for words before she admitted not havingthe "financial means" to invite a refugee into her home.

The news debate, which has now been removed from Channel 4's website, caused an astonished man behind the camera to say on my god during the live broadcast.

Buckbymade the comments after saying that he wanted to deport people who are drain on society.

READ MORE

Far-right activists shocking outburst on Channel 4 News after challenging a woman to adopt a Syrian refugee

A far-right party has announced it will contest the by-election caused by Jo Coxs death

What is the alt-right and why has Twitter suspended some of its highest-profile members?

Excerpt from:
Who is Jack Buckby, what is the alt-right and what did the former ... - The Sun

Dear Editor: It is difficult to read a newspaper today without seeing a reference to the alt-right an expression most of us had never heard a year ago. New words are developed all the time; helicopter parent and frenemy are prime examples. Most new words simply make it easier to express ourselves, but there is something much more sinister about the usage of alt-right.

White nationalist Richard Spencer coined the term alt-right in 2010, but it first came into common usage through its use by former Breitbart News chair, Steve Bannon, now White House chief strategist for Donald Trump.

The term alt-right is used to refer to groups that formerly were called white supremacists, neo-Nazis, KKK, or racists. On the evening news we see rallies with people giving the Nazi salute, chanting Sieg Heil and "Hail Trump," and they are referred to as alt-right rather than neo-Nazis.

In some cases the press intentionally uses the expression to sanitize racist behavior, but many times I think the expression is used because it is just too horrifying to fathom that our president could not have been elected without the support of the most extreme racist groups, and that Trump has a white supremacist, Steve Bannon, as his chief strategist.

I dont know whether Trump is a racist, but he did everything possible to woo the racist vote talking about Obama's birth, Mexican rapists, and radical Islamic terrorists.

I am calling on the press to reject the words alt-right; they misrepresent something that is truly evil.

Charles Frisk

Green Bay

Send your letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.

Read more from the original source:
Charles Frisk: Alt-right is not all right - Madison.com