Prominent legal, business leaders create ABA group to bolster confidence in elections; Reuters, August 9, 2023

Karen Sloan, Reuters; Prominent legal, business leaders create ABA group to bolster confidence in elections

"The American Bar Association has launched a task force aimed at bolstering public trust in elections, headed by former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and former federal appellate judge J. Michael Luttig.

The 31-member ABA Task Force for American Democracy will look at ways to depoliticize how elections are administered, educate the public on democracy, and try to foster election innovations that address the causes of politicization, the ABA said on Wednesday when it announced the new effort. The task force comes a week after former President Donald Trump was indicted on criminal charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election and as the 2024 presidential race is heating up...

ABA task forces are limited by their nature in how much actual change they can effect. But the group hopes to at least expand the conversation about election integrity by holding listening tours, public conversations, and one-on-one and small group discussions with a cross section of Americans to hear about their concerns and experiences, as well as their ideas for restoring democracy, the ABA said."

Dallas, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile: should Facebook show violent videos?; Guardian, 7/8/16

Moira Weigel, Guardian; Dallas, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile: should Facebook show violent videos? :

"Facebook’s community standards appear to recognize the political significance of these types of videos. “In many instances, when people share this type of content, they are condemning it or raising awareness about it,” it reads.

Zuckerberg posted his own statement about Castile’s shooting, saying: “The images we’ve seen this week are graphic and heartbreaking, and they shine a light on the fear that millions of members of our community live with every day. While I hope we never have to see another video like Diamond’s, it reminds us why coming together to build a more open and connected world is so important – and how far we still have to go.”

But these videos call up old debates about the ethics of representation. Does increasing the visibility of violence lead to justice for the victims of violence? Does the video itself constitute a form of redress? Does consuming such imagery sensitize and politicize viewers? Or does it exhaust us – or worse, encourage a perverse kind of voyeurism?

In short, should these kind of videos be produced, watched and circulated?"