The political stakes of reporting the Olympics from China

+ unpacking the Belarus immigrant crisis; what police body cameras achieve US Edition - Today's top story: Olympic Games are great for propagandists – how the lessons of Hitler's Olympics loom over Beijing 2022 [View in browser]( US Edition | 18 November 2021 [The Conversation]( Editors, like most readers, have their favorite authors. I certainly do. I’m excited when a story arrives from one of these writers. I’m going to learn something, I think, and I’m going to have a good time doing it. Michael Socolow, a journalism historian, is one of my favorites. So when he sent me an unsolicited story 10 days ago, I set aside everything else on my to-do list and dove into his piece. “It’s now less than 100 days from the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics,” Socolow writes, “and therefore it’s time for an honest discussion about the ethics of sport journalism and the morality of American media’s complicity with authoritarian regimes that hide the active repression of their citizens.” Socolow wrote a book on the Nazi origins of Olympic broadcasting, and the hard choices faced by journalists covering the 1936 Olympics in Nazi-dominated Berlin are being mirrored again for journalists planning to cover the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing, he writes. Think of all those gorgeous images of national pride you’re used to seeing during opening ceremonies, or upbeat profiles and travelogues during downtime in the competitions. Will those anodyne images truly reflect what is going on in China? He notes that “courageous reporting has publicized the series of repressive domestic and international actions taken by the Chinese government over the past five years.” Socolow asks: [Will Olympic reporting cover that?]( Naomi Schalit Senior Editor, Politics + Society Today's newsletter supported by [Readers like you]( Will anodyne reporting from the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics play into China’s propaganda efforts? Kevin Frayer/Getty Images [Olympic Games are great for propagandists – how the lessons of Hitler’s Olympics loom over Beijing 2022]( Michael J. Socolow, University of Maine In the face of China’s repression and human rights abuses, a scholar asks whether cheerful media coverage of the Beijing Olympics in February 2022 signals complicity with Chinese propaganda. Hopes for a better future? Maxim Guchek/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images [Trouble on the Belarus-Poland border: What you need to know about the migrant crisis manufactured by Belarus’ leader]( Tatsiana Kulakevich, University of South Florida Belarus has created a migrant crisis at its border in an apparent move to punish the European Union for its opposition to the country’s leader. Alex Jones, who was sued by Sandy Hook parents for saying they were accomplices in their children’s deaths. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana [Alex Jones loses Sandy Hook case, but important defamation issues remain unresolved]( Enrique Armijo, Elon University Alex Jones lost a defamation suit by Sandy Hook parents for falsely claiming they helped fake the murders of their children. But the judgment doesn’t deal with important First Amendment questions. - [The concrete effects of body cameras on police accountability]( Suat Cubukcu, American University; Erdal Tekin, American University; Nusret Sahin, Stockton University; Volkan Topalli, Georgia State University Police body-worn cameras increase disciplinary action against officers and reduce racial bias against citizen complainants, according to a recent study. - [The ‘great resignation’ is a trend that began before the pandemic – and bosses need to get used to it]( Ian O. Williamson, University of California, Irvine A record share of workers quit their jobs in September. A human resources scholar explains how this is a trend that predates the pandemic. - [The Hatch Act, the law Trump deputies are said to have broken, requires government employees to work for the public interest, not partisan campaigns]( Matthew May, Boise State University More than a dozen Trump administration officials are said to have violated a federal law that bars federal employees from political campaigning. They weren’t the first to have run afoul of the law. - [Infrastructure law: High-speed internet is as essential as water and electricity]( Hernán Galperin, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act designates broadband internet access as an essential service and targets billions of dollars to close the digital divide. - [How to make voting districts fair to voters, not parties]( Linda Fowler, Dartmouth College; Chris Fowler, Penn State Cracking down on gerrymandering isn’t enough to make elections more competitive. - [After COP26, the hard work begins on making climate promises real: 5 things to watch in 2022]( Rachel Kyte, Tufts University The world promised progress at the Glasgow climate conference. Now it has to turn those promises into reality. A former senior UN official describes what to watch for in the coming year. - [Journalism in middle America got communities through the pandemic]( William Thomas Mari, Louisiana State University The decline of the news industry has been well documented. How did news organizations in the US heartland, facing potential extinction, survive – and even thrive – through the pandemic? [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](