Media
UK plans media campaign to get workers back into workplaces – The Guardian
By William James and William Schomberg
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will urge people this week to get back to their places of work, ramping up Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s calls to revive the economy after its hammering during the coronavirus lockdown.
The government will launch a media campaign to explain to workers that they will be safe if they return to their offices and other places of employment.
Data has shown only 17% of workers in British cities had returned to their workplaces by early August, and one business leader said last week that big urban centers looked like ghost towns.
The government hopes that reopening schools, which began in England this week, will allow parents to go back to their workplaces after working from home since March in many cases.
“People are going back to the office in huge numbers across our country and quite right too,” Johnson said.
A spokesman was unable to say what data this was based upon.
Johnson also said the government would keep a grip on any increase in infections: “We are absolutely confident that we are going to be able to deal with those outbreaks.”
Britain, slower than most European countries to order a lockdown when the pandemic swept the world, has suffered Europe’s highest death toll from COVID-19.
Bank of England officials fear households will be slow to regain confidence.
Britain’s economic output shrank by more than 20% in the April-June period, the most severe contraction among large industrialized nations, and there are signs that recovery has been modest so far.
As of Aug. 28, mobility on public transport remained down by half compared with usual levels in London as a whole, rising to 71% in the City of London financial district, according to data from Google.
By comparison, public transport mobility was down by 32% in Paris and its surrounding region and 19% in Berlin.
A spokesman for Johnson said the government’s campaign would focus on safety.
“The next stage we’ll look at is specifically the guidance on how to get back to work safely and we expect to see that later this week,” the spokesman said.
(Reporting by William James, additional reporting by Andy Bruce; writing by William Schomberg; editing by Giles Elgood)
Media
The media industry is dying – but I can still get paid to train AI to replace me – The Guardian
Say what you like about the Germans, you can always count on them to find just the right word for anything. Take “weltschmerz”, for example, which roughly translates to “world pain”. It signifies despair at the suffering in the world – and a deep anguish that stems from knowing that a better world is possible. Is there a more apt encapsulation of the current moment?
For the past six months I, like many others, have been suffering from an acute case of weltschmerz. As someone of Palestinian heritage I have been weighed down by survivor’s guilt as I’ve watched the unfolding genocide in Gaza. For a while, I didn’t have the emotional energy to write. The only way I could get out of bed and make it through the day was by avoiding the news completely. Which … isn’t an ideal scenario when you largely write about the news for a living. So, at one point, I decided on a career pivot and applied for various non-writing jobs, including one at a dog food manufacturer. Reader, I was rejected. In fact, I didn’t even make it to the first round of interviews; I was humbled by a dog’s dinner.
Obviously, I am writing again now. But for practical purposes I keep an eye on what else is out there. The media industry, after all, seems to be in freefall; it’s always good to try to secure a parachute, just in case. And, the other day, one seemed to present itself to me in my LinkedIn messages. According to an automated missive from an AI company, I have the perfect set of skills to help them write the first draft of AI history. I could, the generic message enthused, get “up to $15 [£12] an hour”, to coach an AI model “by assessing the quality of AI-generated writing … and crafting original responses to prompts”.
In other words: I could get paid less than the New York minimum wage to train an AI model to take over my job. Is there a German word to describe that particular situation, I wonder? I’ll have to ask ChatGPT.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
Media
Social media use increases weight-related bullying risk, study says – Global News
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Social media use increases weight-related bullying risk, study says Global News
Source link
Media
Georgia’s parliament votes to approve so-called ‘Russian law’ targeting media in first reading – CityNews Kitchener
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s parliament has voted in the first reading to approve a proposed law that would require media and non-commercial organizations to register as being under foreign influence if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
Opponents say the proposal would obstruct Georgia’s long-sought prospects of joining the European Union. They denounce it as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media and organizations seen as being at odds with the Kremlin.
“If it is adopted, it will bring Georgia in line with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus and those countries where human rights are trampled. It will destroy Georgia’s European path,” said Giorgi Rukhadze, founder of the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center.
Although Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili would veto the law if it is passed by parliament in the third reading, the ruling party can override the veto by collecting 76 votes. Then the parliament speaker can sign it into law.
The bill is nearly identical to a proposal that the governing party was pressured to withdraw last year after large street protests. Police in the capital, Tbilisi, used tear gas Tuesday to break up a large demonstration outside the parliament.
The only change in wording from the previous draft law says non-commercial organizations and news media that receive 20% or more of their funding from overseas would have to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” The previous draft law said “agents of foreign influence.”
Zaza Bibilashvili with the civil society group Chavchavadze Center called the vote on the law an “existential choice.”
He suggested it would create an Iron Curtain between Georgia and the EU, calling it a way to keep Georgia “in the Russian sphere of influence and away from Europe.”
The Associated Press
-
Tech19 hours ago
iPhone 15 Pro Desperado Mafia model launched at over ₹6.5 lakh- All details about this luxury iPhone from Caviar – HT Tech
-
Sports18 hours ago
Lululemon unveils Canada's official Olympic kit for the Paris games – National Post
-
Business23 hours ago
Traders Place Bets On $250 Oil – OilPrice.com
-
Science21 hours ago
Astronomers discover Milky Way's heaviest known black hole – Xinhua
-
News16 hours ago
Toronto airport gold heist: Police announce nine arrests – CP24
-
Tech17 hours ago
Venerable Video App Plex Emerges As FAST Favorite – Forbes
-
News13 hours ago
Loblaws Canada groceries: Shoppers slam store for green onions with roots chopped off — 'I wouldn't buy those' – Yahoo News Canada
-
Science22 hours ago
'Almost hit my son' – Space junk crashes through Florida home – BBC.com