Mike Ananny
@mikeananny.bsky.social
ananny.org
- Media technologies & production cultures
- How sociotechnical systems enact theories of press freedom & “the public”
- GenAI as a public problem
Associate Professor of Communication & Journalism, USC Annenberg
Always 🇨🇦
- Media technologies & production cultures
- How sociotechnical systems enact theories of press freedom & “the public”
- GenAI as a public problem
Associate Professor of Communication & Journalism, USC Annenberg
Always 🇨🇦
Pinned
Mike Ananny
@mikeananny.bsky.social
· Nov 15
Home
[Nuuksio National Park, Finland]
ananny.org
Hiya, just arrived.
I research, teach, & write about how people make communication technologies. In doing so, they often reveal what they think “expression”, “journalism”, & “the public” mean.
I crave media systems that fight climate collapse, technocratic power, & fascism.
Writing @ ananny.org 👋
I research, teach, & write about how people make communication technologies. In doing so, they often reveal what they think “expression”, “journalism”, & “the public” mean.
I crave media systems that fight climate collapse, technocratic power, & fascism.
Writing @ ananny.org 👋
“Sovereignty, in this context, is not just about protecting domestic production from foreign influence; it’s about preserving the conditions under which authorship by someone with a past and a place still matters.”
thewalrus.ca/can-canadian...
@thewalrus.ca
thewalrus.ca/can-canadian...
@thewalrus.ca
Can Canadian Culture Survive the Age of AI Slop? | The Walrus
Synthetic content is drowning the human voices our policy was built to protect
thewalrus.ca
January 6, 2026 at 3:30 PM
“Sovereignty, in this context, is not just about protecting domestic production from foreign influence; it’s about preserving the conditions under which authorship by someone with a past and a place still matters.”
thewalrus.ca/can-canadian...
@thewalrus.ca
thewalrus.ca/can-canadian...
@thewalrus.ca
Reposted by Mike Ananny
As our government seeks to erase the truth of five years ago, I am deeply grateful for all those researchers whose words shine with such clarity in our Media and January 6th @oxfordunipress.bsky.social book: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
January 6, 2026 at 2:48 PM
As our government seeks to erase the truth of five years ago, I am deeply grateful for all those researchers whose words shine with such clarity in our Media and January 6th @oxfordunipress.bsky.social book: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Reposted by Mike Ananny
The American people electing Trump after he staged a coup attempt 5 years ago was a nail in the coffin of our democracy. You can rationalize it all you want - But inflation! But wokeness! - but ultimately it was a societal suicide attempt and probably the dumbest collective voting decision ever made
January 6, 2026 at 2:51 PM
The American people electing Trump after he staged a coup attempt 5 years ago was a nail in the coffin of our democracy. You can rationalize it all you want - But inflation! But wokeness! - but ultimately it was a societal suicide attempt and probably the dumbest collective voting decision ever made
Official communication from US State Department.
This is a sovereignty crisis for so many nations, including Canada.
There is so much power within the US that could band together & fight this authoritarian thug.
But the billionaires & celebrities & Dems are showing us that they have no spine.
This is a sovereignty crisis for so many nations, including Canada.
There is so much power within the US that could band together & fight this authoritarian thug.
But the billionaires & celebrities & Dems are showing us that they have no spine.
January 5, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Official communication from US State Department.
This is a sovereignty crisis for so many nations, including Canada.
There is so much power within the US that could band together & fight this authoritarian thug.
But the billionaires & celebrities & Dems are showing us that they have no spine.
This is a sovereignty crisis for so many nations, including Canada.
There is so much power within the US that could band together & fight this authoritarian thug.
But the billionaires & celebrities & Dems are showing us that they have no spine.
“Digital sovereignty means democratic control over digital ecosystems free of foreign interference and in alignment with Canadian values. It is essential to our political independence, economic security, cultural vitality and democratic legitimacy.”
January 5, 2026 at 1:41 PM
“Digital sovereignty means democratic control over digital ecosystems free of foreign interference and in alignment with Canadian values. It is essential to our political independence, economic security, cultural vitality and democratic legitimacy.”
Reposted by Mike Ananny
We cannot become numb to the outrage of this. The wife of the President’s Senior Advisor threatens a sovereign nation.
January 4, 2026 at 11:45 PM
We cannot become numb to the outrage of this. The wife of the President’s Senior Advisor threatens a sovereign nation.
+1
It’s one reason why journalism education narrowly focused on “skills”—with scant attention to domain knowledge & brutally honest & critical self-reflection—fails the public.
Such journalists are slick quasi-official steganographers (what Bennett calls professional “indexers”), or entertainers.
It’s one reason why journalism education narrowly focused on “skills”—with scant attention to domain knowledge & brutally honest & critical self-reflection—fails the public.
Such journalists are slick quasi-official steganographers (what Bennett calls professional “indexers”), or entertainers.
So many in media are ill-equipped to interview officials about what’s happening because they begin with the presumption of legitimacy and don’t know enough about history or U.S. foreign policy to foment intelligent pushback and hold officials accountable.
January 5, 2026 at 12:00 AM
+1
It’s one reason why journalism education narrowly focused on “skills”—with scant attention to domain knowledge & brutally honest & critical self-reflection—fails the public.
Such journalists are slick quasi-official steganographers (what Bennett calls professional “indexers”), or entertainers.
It’s one reason why journalism education narrowly focused on “skills”—with scant attention to domain knowledge & brutally honest & critical self-reflection—fails the public.
Such journalists are slick quasi-official steganographers (what Bennett calls professional “indexers”), or entertainers.
Reposted by Mike Ananny
The Prime Minister of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen to the United States:
“Enough is enough.”
“Enough is enough.”
January 4, 2026 at 10:36 PM
The Prime Minister of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen to the United States:
“Enough is enough.”
“Enough is enough.”
Reposted by Mike Ananny
“Every country in the Western Hemisphere should be worried, particularly this country, which Mr. Trump so obviously covets as a 51st state.”
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
The Sunday Editorial: Venezuela’s fate is a warning for Canada
U.S. military action to seize Nicolás Maduro marks the formal debut of an imperial America
www.theglobeandmail.com
January 4, 2026 at 5:46 PM
“Every country in the Western Hemisphere should be worried, particularly this country, which Mr. Trump so obviously covets as a 51st state.”
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
“They have no idea what they’re doing or where this ends.”
Indeed. Their mix of unchecked power, incompetence, hubris, personal rivalries, & petty grievances is deeply dangerous.
Indeed. Their mix of unchecked power, incompetence, hubris, personal rivalries, & petty grievances is deeply dangerous.
my sense is this: not only are trump and rubio and hegseth lying to the public about the purposes, impact, planning, etc of the attack on venezuela. they are lying to each other. they have no idea what they're doing or where this ends.
January 4, 2026 at 6:09 PM
“They have no idea what they’re doing or where this ends.”
Indeed. Their mix of unchecked power, incompetence, hubris, personal rivalries, & petty grievances is deeply dangerous.
Indeed. Their mix of unchecked power, incompetence, hubris, personal rivalries, & petty grievances is deeply dangerous.
“Every country in the Western Hemisphere should be worried, particularly this country, which Mr. Trump so obviously covets as a 51st state.”
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
The Sunday Editorial: Venezuela’s fate is a warning for Canada
U.S. military action to seize Nicolás Maduro marks the formal debut of an imperial America
www.theglobeandmail.com
January 4, 2026 at 5:46 PM
“Every country in the Western Hemisphere should be worried, particularly this country, which Mr. Trump so obviously covets as a 51st state.”
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
A grim, stark, frank call for Canada to guard against Trump lawlessness & a new era of US imperialism.
Gift link:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1022323...
Reposted by Mike Ananny
Nazi Germany’s Reichsbahn treated humans as "cargo," optimizing logistics via transit "warehouses" and standardized "bulk shipments."
By integrating cattle-car transports into national rail schedules, they achieved terrifying efficiency, managing millions like a routine industrial supply chain.
👀
By integrating cattle-car transports into national rail schedules, they achieved terrifying efficiency, managing millions like a routine industrial supply chain.
👀
December 24, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Nazi Germany’s Reichsbahn treated humans as "cargo," optimizing logistics via transit "warehouses" and standardized "bulk shipments."
By integrating cattle-car transports into national rail schedules, they achieved terrifying efficiency, managing millions like a routine industrial supply chain.
👀
By integrating cattle-car transports into national rail schedules, they achieved terrifying efficiency, managing millions like a routine industrial supply chain.
👀
Looks typographically easy to remove that first line, at any moment.
December 19, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Looks typographically easy to remove that first line, at any moment.
Reposted by Mike Ananny
Academics are making the decision to shove unpublished original research that isn’t even theirs into the plagiarism machine. I can’t.
I find this very alarming. AI is being used in explicitly prohibited ways. No doubt this will soon be the norm. The consequences of this will be dramatic. Over the holidays, the publishers and the whole of academic community are doing nothing else but working on a solution to this, right? RIGHT?!
More than half of researchers now use AI for peer review — often against guidance
A survey of 1,600 academics found that more than 50% have used artificial-intelligence tools while peer reviewing manuscripts.
www.nature.com
December 18, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Academics are making the decision to shove unpublished original research that isn’t even theirs into the plagiarism machine. I can’t.
Reposted by Mike Ananny
I don’t know how it works at the New York Times, but my editors at The Guardian would never let me publish this if they knew that I was one of the elites who spent time with Epstein. And if I published it without telling them, I would be out of a job.
December 18, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I don’t know how it works at the New York Times, but my editors at The Guardian would never let me publish this if they knew that I was one of the elites who spent time with Epstein. And if I published it without telling them, I would be out of a job.
“Jeff Bezos earns $81,840 a year of income, low enough to get the child tax credit, which he took in 2021.”
These people.
These people.
Mark Zuckerberg earned just $1 at Meta in 2024. Elon Musk made $0 at Tesla. They're not alone. A tax law professor explains how the ultrawealthy legally avoid income taxes while their wealth grows by billions annually. buff.ly/updvY1r
Billionaires with $1 salaries – and other legal tax dodges the ultrawealthy use to keep their riches
The richest Americans can largely avoid paying income and other taxes. A new book explains the history.
buff.ly
December 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
“Jeff Bezos earns $81,840 a year of income, low enough to get the child tax credit, which he took in 2021.”
These people.
These people.
Reposted by Mike Ananny
This is very good. "Anti-alarmists invariably conflate talking in a calm tone with being rational. Any expression of fear or anger from Cassandras is proof they’re not to be taken seriously."
those who predicted authoritarianism were both dismissed, & deeply misunderstood, by the media
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
my latest for @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
The Americans Who Saw All This Coming—but Were Ignored and Maligned
Call them the Cassandras: the people—mostly not white and male—who smelled the fascism all over Trump from jump street. Why were they “alarmists,” and how did “anti-alarmism” become cool?
newrepublic.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
This is very good. "Anti-alarmists invariably conflate talking in a calm tone with being rational. Any expression of fear or anger from Cassandras is proof they’re not to be taken seriously."
The US government is openly corrupt & the country is not a real democracy, part 63829:
www.cnn.com/2025/12/18/b...
www.cnn.com/2025/12/18/b...
Trump’s social media business is merging with a nuclear fusion company | CNN Business
Truth Social parent company Trump Media & Technology Group announced a deal on Thursday to merge with nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies.
www.cnn.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:05 PM
The US government is openly corrupt & the country is not a real democracy, part 63829:
www.cnn.com/2025/12/18/b...
www.cnn.com/2025/12/18/b...
Reposted by Mike Ananny
In one of my classes I teach how to write abstracts. Students *always* say that the experience of writing an abstract forces them to know their work differently, to see it anew & understand its contribution.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
December 17, 2025 at 2:16 AM
In one of my classes I teach how to write abstracts. Students *always* say that the experience of writing an abstract forces them to know their work differently, to see it anew & understand its contribution.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
Reposted by Mike Ananny
New paper!
In @icsjournal.bsky.social I argue that governing #AI means “scale work” — the labour of stabilizing AI *across* relationships that are usually tackled in isolation.
I use journalism’s GenAI encounters as a case study, connecting siloed AI collisions
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/T7WWF...
In @icsjournal.bsky.social I argue that governing #AI means “scale work” — the labour of stabilizing AI *across* relationships that are usually tackled in isolation.
I use journalism’s GenAI encounters as a case study, connecting siloed AI collisions
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/T7WWF...
December 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
New paper!
In @icsjournal.bsky.social I argue that governing #AI means “scale work” — the labour of stabilizing AI *across* relationships that are usually tackled in isolation.
I use journalism’s GenAI encounters as a case study, connecting siloed AI collisions
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/T7WWF...
In @icsjournal.bsky.social I argue that governing #AI means “scale work” — the labour of stabilizing AI *across* relationships that are usually tackled in isolation.
I use journalism’s GenAI encounters as a case study, connecting siloed AI collisions
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/T7WWF...
Reposted by Mike Ananny
New article out from me and Angèle Christin in the Annals of the AAPSS! In "The Politics of Engagement in Platform Governance," we unpack and historicize the concept of "social media engagement," an idea that has dominated debate over platform politics in recent years.
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
The Politics of Engagement in Platform Governance - Becca Lewis, Angèle Christin, 2024
In recent years, the concept of user engagement has dominated debate over the governance of online platforms, and critics use the term to assign crass commercia...
doi.org
December 15, 2025 at 2:10 PM
New article out from me and Angèle Christin in the Annals of the AAPSS! In "The Politics of Engagement in Platform Governance," we unpack and historicize the concept of "social media engagement," an idea that has dominated debate over platform politics in recent years.
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
doi.org/10.1177/0002...
In one of my classes I teach how to write abstracts. Students *always* say that the experience of writing an abstract forces them to know their work differently, to see it anew & understand its contribution.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
December 17, 2025 at 2:16 AM
In one of my classes I teach how to write abstracts. Students *always* say that the experience of writing an abstract forces them to know their work differently, to see it anew & understand its contribution.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
Like so much AI, the product isn’t the point. Struggling & learning to make a thing is key.
When the software ideology of “permanently beta” (Neff) beats the journalism ideology of fact-based publishing:
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Washington Post Says It Will Continue AI-Generating Error Filled Podcasts as Its Own Editors Groan in Embarrassment
The Washington Post said it will continue deploying its error riddled, AI-generated podcasts, because "this is how products get built."
futurism.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:02 PM
When the software ideology of “permanently beta” (Neff) beats the journalism ideology of fact-based publishing:
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by Mike Ananny
"Tincher [a US citizen] has marks on her neck and wrist from where agents restrained her. Agents cut off her wedding ring and held her in leg shackles at Whipple Federal Building for about five hours, where she saw about seven other detainees." www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
Federal agents arrest citizen observer watching ICE detain neighbors on her north Minneapolis block
Susan Tincher, a 55-year-old American citizen, appears to be the first observer arrested by federal immigration enforcement officers since the agency launched an immigration surge in the Twin Cities l...
www.mprnews.org
December 14, 2025 at 12:28 AM
"Tincher [a US citizen] has marks on her neck and wrist from where agents restrained her. Agents cut off her wedding ring and held her in leg shackles at Whipple Federal Building for about five hours, where she saw about seven other detainees." www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
I do the exact same thing. Think about it multiple times a semester.
Each semester I go in my classroom and I try to figure out what we would use to block the doors, if it would be safe to crawl out the windows, where we could hide if there was a mass shooter in campus. It’s such an indictment of this country how we have normalized these preventable tragedies.
December 13, 2025 at 11:52 PM
I do the exact same thing. Think about it multiple times a semester.