Conservatives avoid penalties for misinformation on Facebook

08/12/20 • 32 min

Today on the show: For years, far-right personalities have claimed that tech companies are biased against conservatives. Recent reports from NBC News and BuzzFeed show that at Facebook, fears of that perception led the company to turn a blind eye to misinformation from certain conservative pages.

Also: Why this year’s election results may be delayed and a look at the president’s recent executive order on evictions.

Also: Why this year’s election results may be delayed and a look at the president’s recent executive order on evictions.

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Without a federal response to covid, states are stepping up

The federal government’s plan to fight the coronavirus has some holes. For some cities and states, that means filling those holes to protect the public.

This week’s show looks at this issue in two areas that deeply affect our lives – work and school.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration has released guidelines, but no concrete, enforceable rules that force businesses to take actions to protect their workers against covid-19. So last week, Virginia became the first state to create its own safety rules in response to the pandemic. We spoke with Doris Crouse-Mays, president of Virginia AFL-CIO, about why the requirements were needed.

Meanwhile, school districts are deciding whether or not to start fall classes in person or online. We talked to Aaron Phillips, president of the Amarillo Education Association, about the Texas Education Agency’s plan to allow schools to begin the fall semester virtually.

Next Episode

Inequality and covid

The pandemic has highlighted and worsened inequality in the United States, where two neighborhoods in the same community can have vastly different infection rates. Also: How prison overcrowding can lead to covid outbreaks.