This is #transitzone USA Election Update 11 recorded on Friday 11 October 2024.

Only 24 days to go to voting day on November the 5th.

To say the USA electorate is febrile is an understatement.

Events external to the actual election campaigns are dominating the USA news cycles and playing into those campaigns in various and significant ways.

Right now, Florida is reeling from the impacts of Hurricane Milton: storm surges, intense winds, widespread flash flooding and a score of highly damaging tornadoes spawned by this tropical storm that came on the heels of Hurricane Helene that had already caused multi-state destruction. There have been fatalities.

Tensions remain high in the Middle East with missile exchanges between Israel and Iran and a looming widening of that regional war as Israel continues its attacks against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, against Hezbollah in Lebanon and operations in the West Bank.

The war between Russia and Ukraine seems to have reached another inflection point.

The two presidential candidates, Kamala Harris for the Democrats and Donald Trump for his cult version of what was the GOP, have increased the tempo of their media appearances and rallies especially Harris who is spreading herself across many outlets from 60 Minutes to Call Her Daddy.

Trump is exploiting the natural disasters of the hurricanes, peddling a torrent of blatant lies about the Biden Harris response, and FEMA, the USA Federal Emergency Management Agency, tying those lies to illegal immigrants. Social media is full of bitter attacks on FEMA and specific civil servants.

GOP lawmaker, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has gone another step to push an unhinged conspiracy theory that the government is controlling the weather to punish and disadvantage Republican states.

As a strange historical echo, the widow of Robert F Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy, has died at 96. Her third eldest child is Robert F Kennedy Jr, formerly an independent presidential candidate now, ostensibly, an avid Trump supporter.

This time in the#transitzone, we want to delve into aspects of social media, its potential regulation, artificial intelligence, journalism and propaganda as it relates to this extraordinary USA election campaign.

Peter Clarke is in conversation with Associate Professor Fiona Martin from Sydney University. Fiona is a lecturer and researcher in Convergent and Online media.

RESOURCES

LINKS TO FIONA MARTIN

Fiona Martin is Associate Professor in Convergent and Online Media at the University of Sydney, and Associate Dean Research Education for the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/fiona-martin.html

https://sydney.academia.edu/FionaMartin