5-Reporter’s Privilege

First and foremost let me explain exactly what Reporter privilege is in the United States. Personally, I had no idea what this was before looking it up but reporter's privilege is a reporter's protection under the constitutional or statutory law from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources. From what I've researched so far the court or a judge may ask and even intimidate a reporter/journalist into handing over there sources. Legally though a reporter truly doesn't have to hand over their sources to a court.

Back in October Buzzfeed invoked reporter's privilege to shield the infamous Trump Dossier source (Original Story). Buzzfeed had a report prepared by a former British spy Christopher Steele that detailed basically every scandal Trump was involved in (Trump Dossier). From his supposed affairs with prostitutes to coordinating with the Russians over hacking his Democrat opponents. As a result, Buzzfeed is now facing a defamation lawsuit from a Russian tech entrepreneur Aleksej Gurbarev. Christopher Steele had a history of investigating Trump's ties to Russia as he was hired in 2016 by Fusion GPS for that exact reason (Article on Christopher Steele). Naturally, the plaintiff's attorney asked Fusion GPS's counsel if Fusion was indeed BuzzFeed's source.(What to know about Fusion GPS Russia investigation)

Naturally, the answer was no and at the time Gurbarev was busy trying to pry the source from Ben Smith. Buzzfeed had this to say regarding it's timely invoking of reporter's privilege, "Plaintiffs demand that this Court order Defendants to violate a promise of confidentiality to a source, an act that for any journalist would constitute the ultimate breach of his or her professional ethics and sense of duty. Yet Plaintiffs have made this extraordinary demand by invoking what are essentially phantom claims about their purported need for this information, and without having made even the slightest effort to explore any alternatives. Under any version of the reporter’s privilege to protect confidential sources, the balance here decidedly tips in Defendants’ favor."

3 - Advertising Ethics

We have a built a society based on rules in every aspect. Without rules, we are no better than animals who just blatantly run wild but as a society, we are also allowed our freedoms as well. Today we'll be talking about advertising ethics, and in today's society advertisement is a big part of the internet and the social media world. One of the biggest faces in social media today is Facebook, and recently FB has come under fire for its flat-out ignorance when it comes to these ethics that have been established in the social media world. 

For one Facebook has been making slight tweaks to its service throughout 2017 and heading into 2018. Most of these tweaks from most people's perspectives have failed to start with the rollout of FB news feed. In countries with a growing internet population like Bolivia are ideal testing grounds for the company but their's a problem. Facebook has a knack for limiting the audience nongovernmental news sources and amplifying the impact of fabricated and farfetched stories. As these changes were being made FB found itself encased in a larger debate in its role for spreading fake news and misinformation affecting elections in the US and other nations. (https://www.businessesgrow.com/2018/01/08/facebooks-biggest-problem/)

Spreading fake news isn't FB biggest problem currently that award goes to the social media's live streaming capability. The biggest threat to FB's image is it's live streaming services, and while many people have provided positive feedback for the site's live stream they have been criticized for the slow response. In an effort to fix the problem at hand Facebook hired 3,000 more workers dedicated to the live streaming service. The main goal of hiring these workers is to recognize and identify these violent videos, and remove them so far no one is really asking FB to handle every single violent live stream posted, but asking them to eliminate 70 percent of the violent live streams. Regardless of the outcome, this remains as Facebook's biggest problem as far a ethics and image go.
(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-crime/facebook-tries-to-fix-violent-video-problem-with-3000-new-workers-idUSKBN17Z1N4)

2 - Supermarket Tabloids

They can be found in almost every grocery store or supermarket in the US. People rarely pay attention to them anymore due to the fact that everything is on the internet.  Regardless if you visit a local 7-Eleven or even a CVS chances are you've seen a supermarket tabloid. From personal experience, I've only ever picked up a supermarket tabloid for one reason to see if a celeb really cheated on another celeb. It's very common to see a supermarket tabloids front page filled with drama and that's what attracts its readers.

More often than not supermarket tabloids have words and images that pop off the page. For example, a supermarket Tabloid would be "The Globe" or "The National Enquirer" and they specialize in crime stories. You'll never find a Supermarket tabloid that doesn't have at least one gossip column about a celebrity or sports stars, but as they've progressed various tabloids have expanded their range of topics.  Despite people's opinions supermarket tabloids don't always use mean-spirited tactics, but usually, the ones that do attract the most customers and readers. One supermarket tabloid jumps out when you're talking about mean-spirited tactics, and that's none other than The Globe.

At the top of a Globe supermarket tabloid, the first thing that you can see is Serial Killers Special Report: "Nurse Slaughters 60 Babies". The Globe wouldn't be what it was without the bright yellow lettering of its main article on the center of its front page. More often than not what they decided to feature as their main story is the story that doesn't hold any truth, but they do attract customers. "Priscilla's NEW LOVER LIVES IN TRAILER PARK!" screams at the viewer on the front page; personally I have no idea who the woman is in the photo but most supermarket tabloids do a good job of featuring stories catered to the younger generation.