Zeynep Tufekci's latest newsletter makes some important points about how poorly the media is covering what is important about the Hunter Biden story: the obvious blackmail.
There is a lot of insight in this piece, including Tufekci's ongoing argument that we are in a war for attention, more than a war for (free) speech.
I also learned the term "whistle-drowning" (~ DDOSing of the media / public discourse), which seems like a handy word for these times.
Some quotes from the piece:
"Given the decreasing time available, what are the important questions, and how much attention should they get, and how?"
"Whistle-drowning is designed to flood the public a flurry of allegations that make it very difficult to concentrate on the important questions facing us."
"Wanton destruction of the personal privacy of any person who has ever come near a political organization is a vicious but effective means to smother dissent."
"Dissent requires the right to privacy: to be let alone in our vulnerabilities and the ability to form our thoughts and share them when we choose."
"The media is still under some illusion that fairness and balance means devoting equal attention to allegations about, and stories potentially damaging to, both candidates--rather than devoting proportional attention to allegations and stories according to their credibility, scale, scope and importance."
@anaulin aka gish gallop
"Such hack-and-dump operations are designed to blackmail people, and deter people from entering into politics."