These two articles, when taken together, scare me more than anything has so far. In one, we learn that two “news” organizations (CNN, CNBC) have partnered with a betting platform to get people to bet real money on outcomes and headlines, and then cover the betting trends as if that were the news. The other cites in detail a paper written by an MIT and a Harvard professor about how manipulative media and political propaganda are created and consumed.
Information is about to become entirely meaningless on a massive scale. The potential for final devastation is apparent; this could absolutely usher in civilization’s decline in ways we’ve never even conceived of.
My hot take? If libraries are truly the link between people and information, they’ve got to go on the offensive and start carrying independent journalism. They’ve got to start offering nonstop programming on information literacy. They might truly be our only hope.
The casino-fication of news (popular.info)
CNN and CNBC’s partnerships with Kalshi, a prediction market, will transform news events into betting opportunities. This raises concerns about market manipulation, as wealthy individuals could influence outcomes and distort news coverage. Additionally, Kalshi’s lack of insider trading regulations and its addictive nature, similar to gambling, pose further risks to users and the integrity of news.
The new partnerships with CNN and CNBC will not only draw more users to Kalshi but fundamentally change the nature of news. It is no longer just a mechanism to learn about and understand world events. The news is now an opportunity to speculate on future events for financial gain.
December 9, 2025 (heathercoxrichardson.substack.com)
G. Elliott Morris’s article on how cable news fueled the culture war and broke U.S. politics highlights the influence of media on political discourse. Morris argues that cable news, particularly Fox News, prioritizes culture war issues over economic ones, shaping voter priorities and influencing political outcomes. This trend, rooted in the 1980s, benefits right-wing politicians and companies that profit from sensationalism.
“In other words,” Morris writes, “when cable news producers decide to cover an issue more, voters subsequently say it is more important to them, and that issue is more predictive of how they’ll vote. TV news coverage, and cable in particular, has the power to choose which issues are most ‘salient’ for upcoming elections.” He notes that “this effect is almost entirely, or maybe even entirely, driven by Fox News,” and that right-wing politicians benefit most from it. Democrats get their highest marks from voters on issues not covered by cable news.- Article summaries by Apple Intelligence
