Questions, comments or suggested links? Contact me at: Ralph.Hanson@mail.wvu.edu Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, a new text for Introduction to Mass Communication classes.

April 2004 Archive

Note that some of these links are short term and will expire after two weeks. If you have access to Lexis-Nexis at your college or university library, you can retrieve many of the stories that are no longer on the web.

Main Archive List

Friday - April 30, 2004

• Breaking News: Controversial Nightline Program to Feature Names & Faces of American Soldiers Killed in Iraq
  But Sinclair Broadcasting Group will not carry the program on its ABC stations. (MediaChannel.org) Note: I will be adding updates to this item throughout the day as stories appear
  • WP Story on Boycott
  • San Francisco Chronicle on Boycott
  • Washington Times on Boycott
  • Miami Herald on Boycott
  • Koppel Explains Why He's Reading the Names (Poynter)
  • Ted Koppel on Quality of Television News (Poynter)
  • USA Today Runs Gallery of April Dead (E&P)
  • Sen. John McCain Says Sinclair's Preemption is "Deeply Offensive (Poynter)
    You may have to scroll down to see McCain's statement.
  • NPR's Audio Coverage
• Woman Fired Over Coffin Photos
  Seattle Times ran the original photo of soldier coffins that resulted in a Kuwait-based cargo worker being fired.
  • Why are these photos so controversial?
  • Reader comments on Seattle Times coffin photo
• Polling in a War Zone
  USA Today, CNN and Gallup conducted a public opinion poll in Iraq on how people there feel about what is happening in their country. It is very rare to see an opinion poll being taken in a country at war, and I suspect this is one of the first true polls taken in Iraq.
• Potty Humor Popular With Kids
  Like all parents didn't know this already... (CNN)
• Amazon's Search Inside The Book Feature Lets Online Cooks Get Recipes for free
  So why aren't cookbook authors complaining? (LA Times)

Thursday - April 29, 2004

• "Dude, I'm from Nebraska." Why James Valentine Loves The Weather Channel
  One of my favorite online newsletters is Real Media Riffs from Media Post. It's a daily commentary with a great style on the advertising industry. Monday's column was on the upfront market for the cable networks in the fall. What's that? you say. The upfront market is when networks sell off much of their advertising time inventory for the coming television season. This edition of Riff talks about the various events held to attract and amuse advertisers during upfront sales. Who knew that the lead guitarist for the band Maroon 5 was a big Weather Channel fan!
• Air America Radio has a Rough First Month
  The liberal, right-bashing, Air America talk radio network has had a tough time of it during its first month on the air, with some stations looking to drop the programming, and execs stepping down. (Washington Post)
  • Is Howard Stern doing what Al Franken Can't?
    LA Times writer Jody Rosen thinks that Howard Stern is the great liberal radio hope. Be afraid! Be very afraid! (Thanks to Obscure Store for this link)
• Final Friends Ads Cost $2 Mil per 30 Secs.
  Being a Friends friend is gonna be expensive! The price for ads during the last episode of friends will be the most expensive ever for a sitcom episode. (USA Today)
• Recording Industry Lawsuits Continue
  The recording industry filed suit against 477 more file sharers, many of whom are college students. (CNN)
• Profits Double for Media Giant Time Warner (MSNBC)

Wednesday - April 28, 2004

• Tributes to Columnist Mary McGrory
  Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory died April 20, 2004. She won the Pulitzer Prize and was on the Nixon administration's "enemy list." McGrory first came to prominence covering the Army-McCarthy hearings.
  • NPR Obit
  • Washington Post Funeral Story
  • Mary McGrory's Columns
    McGrory's most recent colummns for the Washington Post prior to her death.
• Man on Fire is a Chick Flick
  Denzel's new movie is full of guns, explosions, and violence, but 55 percent of the audience was female. Man on Fire brought in $23 million its first weekend of release, demonstrating Mr. Washington's box office appeal. (USA Today)
• Advertisers Doing More With Short Films
  Awhile back here we talked about the short films BMW produced staring Clive Owen about a man for hire who drives BMW cars. The trend of "sponsored films" is expanding,with ESPN running a series called "The Scout" which features Craftsman tools.
• Verizon Uses Race, Sitcom-style to Attract Viewers
  Slate advertising critic Seth Stevenson discusses new ads from Verizon that use multi-ethnic casts in a sitcom-like setting to attract viewers/customers. (Do we detect a trend here of commercials that don't look much like commercials?
• FCC Penalties Lead to Higher Ratings for Howard Stern
  The "King of all Media" may be in deep trouble with the FCC, but his radio show's ratings are up 18 percent over last year. You can't buy the kind of publicity he's had as of late. (Yahoo Biz)

Tuesday - April 27, 2004

• Who is Von Dutch? And Why are All Your Students Wearing His Name on their Chests?
  One of my former students dropped by today wearing a black Von Dutch t-shirt. I had noticed a large number of kids wearing them recently, so I asked him, "Who is Von Dutch?" My student's reply? "Dr. Hanson, I have no idea. The shirt cost 10 bucks, and I thought it would look good with a pair of sweats." Well, here's your answer from the OC Weekly. Clearly an interesting guy, but I'm not sure all these folks would be wearing his name on their chests if they knew who he really was. (Read about halfway down for the story on Von Dutch's racism.) A fascinating look at how t-shirts could be considered a medium of mass communication.
• Plan of Attack coverage
  Bob Woodward's book about the war in Iraq is a bestseller and is getting a huge amount of media attention.
  • Excerpts from Plan of Attack
  • Transcript of Online Chat with Woodward in the WP
  • Washington Post Ombudsman discusses relationship between book and daily journalism stories
  • White House Chooses to Promote Plan of Attack
  • Hannity & Colmes Interview with Woodward (Fox News)
  • Larry King Interview with Woodward (CNN)

Monday - April 26, 2004

• Can the Public Distinguish Fantasy and Reality?
  Fiction can oftentimes shape how people view public policy. So it should be no surprise that the new sci-fi/disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow has people becoming concerned about what might be the effects of global warming. In fact, it has become such a big concern that NASA issued official orders that none of its scientists are to comment on the new movie! NASA has since backed off slightly on the orders. (NY Times)
• Viagra, Levitra & Cialis Ads Make for Awkward TV Moments
  Television loves the money from prescription drug ads, but when they are for "erectile dysfunction" medications, there can be some difficult decisions to make. For example, how do you tell the public what the drugs are for without being offensive? A great topic for either an advertising or ethics class. (NY Times)
• Apple Founder Steve Jobs Becomes a Player in the Music Industry
  Steve Jobs started out with a computer company, but he's now a leader in the online music business with the iTunes music service and the iPod MP3 player. He's also made a few movies.... (NY Times)
• Having a Hit Record Doesn't Guarantee Radio Airplay
  Just ask Norah Jones. Having a hit CD isn't enough. Songs have to match rigid radio formats to get on the air. (Washington Post)

Saturday - April 24, 2004

• Audio Weekend: Pop Culture / Media News from NPR
  On the weekend, Living in a Media World features a wrap up of audio stories from National Public Radio that deal with pop culture and/or media issues.
  • The 100 Best Texas Songs
    Texas Monthly magazine has published a list of the 100 best Texas songs. Audio, text, and the Top 10 Texas songs.
  • Doonesbury's B.D. Loses His Leg in Iraq
    B.D., who for 30 years or so has been wearing a helmet in the comic strip Doonsbury, lost his leg this week in a story line that had him fighting in Iraq. (Early in the week, I will confess a certain level of fear that this fictional character was not going to make it home.)
    • Several papers edited profanity out of strip where B.D. discovered his leg was gone.
  • Eats, Shoots & Leaves - The Importance of Punctuation
    Lynne Truss has written a bestselling book on punctuation that is filled with great examples of how minor changes in punctuation can completely change the meaning of a sentence. This is an extended coverage page with extensive material about the book along with the original audio story.
  • Broadcasters Challenge FCC Ruling on Obscenity
    A group of broadcasters and free-speech advocates are unhappy with the FCC's latest obscenity ruling and wan the agency to reconsider.
  • Bob Woodward Talks about Plan of Attack
    Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward has a major new book out on the Iraq war that has all of Washington talking. Woodward interviewed Bush, Chaney, and Powell, among many others, for the book.
  • NPR on the USA Today editor resignations
• Photos of Soldier Coffins Appear on the Web
  For many years the government has worked to keep images of the coffins of soldiers coming back from war out of the media. That ban was recently broken by the web site The Memory Hole that says it is fighting government secrecy. There has been an on-going debate over what are appropriate images of war for the US media, which tends to run much milder photos than European or Middle Eastern media. (NY Times)
  • NY Times Editorial on Topic
  • Take a look at today's front pages from around the world.
    Note that this is the top link on the right side of the site.
• Media Business News
  • NBC Universal Merger Gets Regulatory Approval
  • Time/Warner Eyeing MGM's Movie Library
• Has Voting Been Fixed at American Idol?
  Part of the continuing controversy over the "reality" of "reality television." I know that I put a lot of material here on reality television, but I think that it is a huge change in television programming. If you look at the ratings, one might ask whether traditional television programming has any relevance at all. (Of course it does, but it's a question worth debating.) (Washington Post)

Friday - April 23, 2004

• Anatomy of a Scandal
  Complete USA Today coverage of the Jack Kelley scandal. So far two editors have resigned. USAT posts all the details of the paper's investigation into Kelley's fabrications and plagiarism.
• DVD Sales as Important as Box Office
  DVDs are as important to the bottom line of moives as are ticket sales. USA Today looks at how movies can lose money in theaters and still turn a profit.
• Diana and the Press: The Controversy Continues
  CBS showed pictures of Princess Diana taken shortly after her fatal car accident, and the British press is outraged. (USA Today)

Wednesday - Thursday, April 21-22, 2004

• Remembering Neil Postman
  While researching a completely different question, I found out that communication scholar Neil Postman died on October 5, 2003. Postman was a provocative and articulate scholar and critic of the mass media. For me, the highlight of Postman's career was a wonderful book he wrote on the effects of television on public rhetoric: Amusing Ourselves to Death. The book came out in 1985, the same year that Joshua Meyrowitz's No Sense of Place was published. I don't think there has been a year that has had two such solid books come out on the nature of television as a medium.
  • NYU colleague Jay Rosen's tribute to Postman
  • More from Rosen, who was also Postman's student
  • Freelancer Jim Benning, writing at AlterNet
  • Online chat with Postman from 1996 (PBS Newshour)
  • Informing Ourselves to Death, a speech by Postman from 1990
  • Neil Postman online - a collection of Postman links
• Pig Pile on The Alamo!
  Everywhere you turn, folks are piling on to beat up on Disney's big budget commercial flop. This article from the Washington Post looks at the long term implications of three major flops for Disney's movie division this spring.
• USA Today Editor Resigns
  Karen Jurgensen has resigned from her position as the top editor at USA Today in the wake of the Jack Kelley scandal. You may recall that Kelley was one of the paper's top international reporters who was fired for fabricating and or plagerizing stories over a 10 year period. Is Jurgensen a scapegoat here? Some say so, as Kelley was faking it long before Jurgensen was editor. Here are several additional stories on this topic.
  • NY Times coverage of story
• Heads Roll at Disney's ABC Entertainment Division
  Be glad you weren't in charge of planning programming at ABC for next fall, because if you were, you got a nasty bit of news. All of the top execs in the entertainment division of ABC have been ousted by Disney. (Probably not the "Happiest Place On Earth" this week! But, hey, at least someone other than the folks who greenlighted The Alamo are getting picked on.) (Washington Post)

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

• Reporters Reconsider "Background Briefings"
  Washingtonn Post White House correspondent Dana Milbank looks at how reporters use and abuse material from "background" sources.
• Sony Attempts to Revive the Walkman in the Age of the iPod
  Is the Walkman "so last millenium" now that MP3 players with hard drives are moving to the forefront? (NY Times)
• Analsysis from Box Office Mojo on Why Alamo is Bombing
  The Alamo is the biggest box office failure so far this year. Why doesn't anyone want to see it?
• Bush Gets More Television Coverage than Kerry
  So notes Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz.
  • Bush Campaign Ads on the Internet
    You'll need to scroll down this rundown of NPR's All Things Considered to get to a story on Bush's Internet ads. It also includes links to Bush ads.

Monday, April 19, 2004

• The Real Cost of Movies
  Disney's The Alamo is likely to be a box office failure. So the only question is, "How big?" Slate looks at what the actual costs of this big-budget epic were.
• Roger Ebert on the Howard Stern Fuss
  Movie critic Roger Ebert also writes on pop culture issues for his paper the Chicago Sun-Times. This time he explains why he prefers Howard Stern over Rush Limbaugh.
• Media & Asian-Americans
  Poynter.org has had several interesting articles recently on Asian-Americans in the media:
  • Where are all the Male Asian-American Television News Anchors?
    TV/Radio columnist Jill Geisler talks about the question.
  • Details magazine runs a parody on how to tell if someone is "Gay or Asian."
    Thomas T. Huang of the Dallas Morning News raises the question, "When does a parody move from being tasteless to racist?"
    • Here's what the page from Details looks like.
  • Asian Sightings: A discussion of Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia
    Zia talks about how Asians have been portrayed in the media, along with other issues, in this article by Tran Ha. (OK, so this article is from 2000, it still fits in nicely on the topic. And it picks up on comments I've read elsewhere by Asian-Americans in the media business.)

Saturday, April 17, 2004

• Audio Weekend: Pop Culture / Media News from NPR
  On the weekend, Living in a Media World features a wrap up of audio stories from National Public Radio that deal with pop culture and/or media issues.
  • Who's being censored?
    The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression "honors" each year those who have stood in the way of free speech. Find out about the award and the "winners."
  • Brian Wilson Tours to Support the Album that Never Was
    Following the release of the hit single "Good Vibrations, Beach Boy Brian Wilson worked on a project called "Smile" that was never released. Now Wilson is performing "Smile" on his current European tour.
  • Search as Mass Communication - Part II
    Earlier this week we talked about whether search engines are part of the world of Internet-based mass comm. This is NPR's take on the topic. This link takes you to a page that connects to a wide range of material on the topic along with stories from an on-going Morning Edition series.
  • War Pornography
    Do graphic images of war, such as those that came out of Fallujah, help us understand the horrors of war, or do they simply serve to shock us? A discussion with photographer and writer Jim Lewis. From On the Media. Available as both a transcript and an audio file.
  • Profiling Reality King Mark Burnett - Part II
    A Slate/NPR story on the man behind The Apprentice and Survivor.

Friday, April 16, 2004

• Reality Show King Mark Burnett Reshapes Television
  Say what you like about his shows, The Apprentice and Survivor producer Mark Burnett is one of the most influential people in television right now, with two shows in the top five ratings. (USA Today)
• He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead, and He's Not Jim Morrison
  How is it that Che Guevara, a communist revolutionary who died in 1967, become a marketing icon? (USA Today) By the way, for a great travel book that follows Guevara's motorcycle journey though South America, read Patrick Symmes' Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend.
  • Examples of Che merchandise
    Remember, one of the biggest forces of the mass media is to move culture from the margin of society into the mainstream. Find Che on everything from books, to buttons, to postcards, to posters, to T-shirts, to a pocket tin!
• Honors for Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee
  The inventor of the World Wide Web recently won the Millennium Technology Prize (which includes a one million euro cash award) for his work. And he was knighted in 2003. To me, the most amazing thing about Sir Berners-Lee is that after he invented the web, he gave it away to the world for free.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

• Columnist Anna Quindlen asks: How do we teach journalists empathy?
  Journalists need to care about truth and their sources. (Newsweek)
• High School Students are Reading Newspapers
  But they are still watching a lot of television, says USA Weekend survey.
• Advertising Issues in the News
  • Product Placement in Magazines
    We're used to seeing products from advertisers being featured on television programs, but are we ready to have the same thing happen in our magazines? Ad Age takes a look at this contentious issue. Thanks to Romenesko for this item.
  • Truth in Advertising: Low-Carb Beer
    A beer advertisers making health claims in their ads for low-carb beer? That would be a no-no according the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. (Ad Age)
    • Advertising Other Low-Carb Products (USA Today)
  • Reaching the Gay and Lesbian Market
    Advertisers want this market; take a look at the demographics to see why. (From mediapost.com)
    • The Commercial Closet
      A web site devoted to adverting to the LGBT market. Quick Time of a number of gay, etc., themed ads.
  • Greek Wedding, Blair Witch, The Passion, and Bobby Jones - New Ways of Marketing Movies
    Looking for the lasting impact of "small" movies that made it big? They tend to rely on non-traditional marketing techniques that don't use standard media advertising. (USA Today)
  • More on Bob Dylan Selling Panties for VS
    Slate commentator Seth Stevenson takes on Dylan's serving as a spokesinger for Victoria's Secret. (Thanks to Whitney Matheson's Hip Clicks for the reference!)

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

• Search as Mass Communication
  Are search engines a new part of mass communication? I think so. Certainly the Internet and the World Wide Web are a part of our mass media, and search engines, such as Google or Yahoo, are the tool we use to find information on Web. So it was disturbing to many this week when it turned out that the number one link on Google for the word "Jew" was an anti-semitic site called Jew Watch. The question then becomes, should Google be censoring (blocking, ignoring) objectionable results created by their search criteria?
  • Google Explains Results and Why They Happen
    Google points out that the results come from the search algorithm that they use that point to "a page's relevance to a given query." Google also notes that searches on the words "Judaism," "Jewish people," and "Jews" come up with different results than does the term "Jew."
  • News Coverage of "Google/Jew" Issue
    Generated by Google's News search service.
• Prior Restraint: Press Ordered to Keep Mum on Jurors Names
  Reporters covering the retrial of investment banker Frank P. Quattrone have been ordered by the judge in the case to not reveal the names of jurors or potential jurors. Lawyers say order is "probably unconstitutional." (NY Times)
• Technology Helps Soldiers in Iraq Stay in Touch with Pop Culture
  American troops rely on CD players, MP3 files, and portable DVD players to stay in touch with pop culture while serving their tour of duty overseas. (NY Times) Things have come a long way since Esquire published special editions for the troops during WWII.
• Justice Scalia Apologizes for Marshals Taking Reporters' Recordings
  Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has apologized to reporters who had their recordings of a speech he gave taken away by a U.S. deputy marshal. Scalia has a policy of not allowing his speeches to be recorded. Ironically, he was speaking on the importance of the constitution. (USA Today)
• DISH Network Threatens to Drop Turner Channels from Satellite Service
  For the second time this spring, the DISH Network has said that it may drop a group of popular channels from its service. This time it is Turner Broadcasting channels, including CNN and Cartoon Network. The last time, it was Viacom-owned MTV and Nickelodeon. (From Yahoo Finance)
• Broadcast Television Getting Tamer
  In light of recent FCC fines for the Howard Stern Show, and the fuss over Janet Jackson, some observers suggest that television is going to be toning down its content. (From Yahoo Finance)
• Cartoons
  What should the role of an editorial cartoonist be? Does he or she have to be fair? Are they ever fair?

• An interview with Sacremento Bee cartoonist Rex Babin
• Boondocks
• Profile of Aaron McGruder from the New Yorker
  • Read Boondocks online

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

• Citizens for a Free Kuwait
  I write this blog for a number of reasons, among them providing readings for my students. So while everyone is welcome to take a look at this item, it's here specifically for my Media Ethics course. Today in class we were talking about the Citizens for a Free Kuwait case study. Here are several links with more material on it. Keep in mind that most of these links are to sites with a particular point of view. That is -- they are not trying to be "fair and balanced"; they want you to adopt their point of view.
  • PR Watch: "How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf," from the book Toxic Sludge is Good for You. You may note that PR Watch makes use of many of the same techniques that they criticize PR practitioners for using.
  • Remember Nayira, Witness for Kuwait?
    John MacArthur's Op/Ed Piece from the New York Times giving the background on Nayira and her testimony.
  • How To Build Support for War
    This is a 1992 article from Columbia Journalism Review. It is probably the most dispassionate article of the bunch.
  • Hill & Knowlton
    The Hill & Knowlton corporate site.

• NYDN Columnist Says We Don't Want Clear Definition of Indecency.
  Do we really want an unambiguous definition of what constitutes indecency on radio and television? Daily News columnist David Hinckley says no.
• NY Times on Retirement of Movie Ratings Czar Valenti
  Jack Valenti is ending 38 years as head of the Motion Picture Association of America. Valenti devised the rating scheme that now regulates who can go to the movies and how they can be marketed. (Or who developed the scheme to make sure no movies ever get censored, if you are of a more cynical bent.)
• Viacom Authors Get Interviews on CBS's 60 Minutes
  Looking for examples of synergy? 60 Minutes will be or has featured interviews with authors Bob Woodward, Richard A. Clarke, and Ron Suskind. In addition to being about political controversies, all three books in question were published by divisions of Simon & Schuster. S&S and CBS are both owned by media giant Viacom. Is there a pattern here? The NY Times suggests there might.
• War, News & Public Relations
  • Propaganda: What Goes Around, Comes Around
    Professor Bruce A. Williams argues in the Chronicle of Higher Education that Harold Lasswell's analysis of propaganda use by the government during World War I could be used to explain the promotion of the current war with Iraq. (This link will expire in in a few days; if you subscribe to The Chronicle, you can always access it here.)
  • Newseum Exhibit on War in Iraq Front Pages
    This is part of an ongoing project at the Freedom Forum’s Newseum to present front pages from around the world. This link deals with the war in Iraq, and currently features front pages on Fallujah on the left side of the screen. Be forewarned: The images from some international papers are far more disturbing than those that ran in US papers.

Monday, April 12, 2004

• Clear Channel Fined $495K for Stern Indecency
  The FCC handed down a nearly half million dollar fine to Clear Channel Communications for an indecent broadcast by Howard Stern. And now the FCC is considering pursuing similar action against Infinity Broadcasting for their 35 stations that carry Stern. (Washington Post)
  • FCC Complaint Against Howard Stern Broadcast
    Here's the full text of the complaint against Clear Channel Communications for carrying an allegedly indecent broadcast by Howard Stern. It comes to us courtesy of The Smoking Gun.
• Are Video Games a New Mass Medium?
  Movie directors like Peter Jackson and John Woo are starting to put their efforts into video games as well as films, according to this story from the New York Times.
• Can Janet Jackson Repair Her Image by Appearing on SNL?
  Is Saturday Night Live the place where ailing celebs go to revitalize their careers? The WP Style Section says "Yes."
  • Here's an early review of her performance from the Globe and Mail.
  • And one by the AP from the Washington Post.
  • The Daily News - With a Photo
• "Range" May Be Last Hand-Animated Film For Disney
  Speculation at CNN is that Home on the Range will be the last Disney film done with hand-drawn animation. Some blame the lackluster performance of recent traditionally animated films as being a sign that audiences are bored with them. (Or maybe some, like Treasure Planet, were just bad ideas!)
• Boston Globe Columnist Ellen Goodman Takes On Makeover Show

Saturday, April 10, 2004

• Audio Weekend: Pop Culture News from NPR
  On the weekend, Living in a Media World features a wrap up of audio stories from National Public Radio that deal with pop culture and/or media issues.
  • Cloning Beethoven? April 1 Fun from NPR's Performance Today.
    It's always fun to see what various media outlets will do to amuse themselves on April Fools' Day. It's even more funny to hear how many people will take them seriously
  • 'Los Tigres' Make Protest Dance Music
    A feature on a Mexican group that performs protest music with a dance beat.
  • Are Video Games a Narrative for the 21st Century?
    Novelist Lev Grossman sees elements of literature in video games.
  • Remembering Kurt Cobain
    Morning Edition looks at the lasting influence of the late leader of Nirvana 10 years after his death.
  • Reality Shows Feature Plastic Surgery
    Could Media World go a week without a Reality Show link?
  • Bob Dylan Does Victoria's Secret? Say it Ain't So!
    How are fans reacting to the news that Bob Dylan is doing an ad for Victoria's Secret underwear? Hint: It isn't pretty...

Friday, April 9, 2004

• When the Marginal Becomes Mainstream
  One of the central properties of mass communication is to move cultural items from the margins of society into the mainstream. Thurston Moore, of the group Sonic Youth, writes about this trend in connection with rock, punk, and the late Kurt Cobain.
• Do April Fools' Pranks Belong in the News?
  Poynter ethics writer Aly Colón looks at the problems several student newspapers face following controversial April Fools' editions?
• Stern May Draw New Fine From FCC
  The "King of All Media" may have brought fine of nearly half a million dollars on radio giant Clear Channel for indecency. (CNN Money)
• VNR's Draw Controversy (Spin Buster blog at Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk.)
  In March, the US Department of Health and Human Services released several video news releases (VNRs) that looked a lot like news stories with "reporters" Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia (in the English and Spanish versions respectively).
  • What's a VNR?
    A video news release. The video equivalent of a print press release. They can be video supplied on a topic a company wants covered, b-roll material. They can be stories with scripts for local reporters to read. They can be excerpts from speeches by politicians. Or they can be ready-to-run stories complete with "reporters" giving the story. This link is to a company named MediaLink that produces VNRs.
  • More on the controversy from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • Who is Karen Ryan?
    Karen Ryan runs a public relations agency called Karen Ryan Group. Some reports called her an "actress." Some called her a "reporter." She calls herself a p.r. professional.
  • Blogger Amy Gahran writes on VNR controversy
    Gahran does a good job of summing up why VNRs are troubling. And the blame doesn't necessarily go where you expect. After all, who's responsible for running the video?
  • A Brief History of the VNR
    From Abused by the News, a blog by Los Angeles writer Daniel Price.
  • RTNDA guidelines for using VNRs
    RTNDA is the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
  • Want to see a VNR?
    This is a link to VNR-1 Communications, a company that produces VNRs. This page has links to current VNRs and audio productions from VNR-1. (Note: This is not the company that produced the Health and Human Services videos.)

Thursday, April 8, 2004

• April Fools' Editions Lead to Problems for Student Newspapers
  • Two College Papers Suspended Over April Fools' Issues
    Nobody is laughing after the student newspapers at Carnegie Mellon U. and University of Scranton suspended publication following April Fools' editions. (Chronicle of Higher Education)
  • The same thing happened in 2003 at Stetson U. (CNN)
  • University of Nebraska - Omaha Paper Apologizes for Its April 1 edition
    Also more on CMU and US. (USA Today)
  • Editorial on April Fools' Editions from Northern Illinois Paper
    Student journalists join in on discussion of April Fools' editions.
  • All Things Considered Annual April Fools' Spoof
    Every year NPR's All Things Considered runs an April Fools' spoof story. One memorable story more from about 13 or so years ago had the US selling Arizona to Canada to eliminate the national debt and give Canada a warm water port. (They were assuming the Canadians wouldn't notice that there was no port in Arizona.) This year's story dealt with portable zip codes.
• Murdoch's News Corp. moving to the US
  News Corp., which owns Fox and the NY Post among its many other properties, is moving from Australia to the United States. Company head Rupert Murdoch became a US citizen 19 years ago. (NY Times)
  • NY Post reports on move
  • Sampling of other News Corp. properties
    • Fox News
    • 20th Century Fox Studios
    • BSkyB Satellite Television
    • HarperCollins book publishers
    • The Times (of London)
    • The Sun (London tabloid; home of the infamous Page 3 Lovelies)
• Do Nielsen Ratings Undercount Minorities?
  Critics charge that a new method for measuring television audience size will undercount minorities. (Washington Post)
  • www.dontcountusout.com
    Don't Count Us Out is an activist group fighting the new measurement system. In addition to being on the web, they've had full page ads in newspapers such as USA Today.
  • Will People Meters Replace Sweeps?
    That's the question American Journalism Review columnist Deborah Potter is asking.
  • Nielsen Decides to Delay New People Meters
    Following extensive controversy, Nielsen announced Tuesday it would delay introduction of its new people meters. (Washington Post) (Though one advertising analysis newsletter suggests it was pressure from News Corp. that led to the delay.)

Wednesday, April 7, 2004

• 2004 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced
  Each year, the Pulitzer Prize honors the best in journalism, fiction, drama, history, biography, poetry, general non-fiction, and music.
  • The Los Angeles Times wins five awards
    The LATimes won prizes in breaking news, national reporting, editorial writing, criticism, and feature photography.
    • The Wal-Mart Effect (national reporting winner)
    • Southern California Wildfires (breaking news)
    • Carolyn Cole's feature photography
  • Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Hearld wins commentary prize
    Pitts is one of my favorite columnists; he writes with a strong, distinct voice and is always provocative. Even before his Pulitzer he was attracting national attention with his columns from the days following Sept. 11.
  • What makes for a Pulitzer-winning column?
    Poynter's Keith Woods was on the Pulitzer commentary jury. Read what he has to say on what makes the makes the difference between a winning and a losing column. Seriously, there is excellent practical advice in this column that students can use to judge their own work.
• Political Ads Swamp Swing States
  The LA Times reports that presidential ads are running at a record pace in 17 key states. (Thanks to Media Daily News for this item.)
• When Songs are Sent to Advertising Hell
  The Turtles hit "So Happy Together" has been used lots of places, but now the lyrics have been changed as part of an Applebee's ad. Are there no limits to what people will do?! (Washington Post)
• Online Chat with WP's Media Reporter Howard Kurtz
  Lots of interesting analysis and questions from Kurtz's weekly online chat.

Tuesday, April 6, 2004

• Is file sharing hurting CD sales? More from the NYT
  Is file sharing really the villain killing CD sales? Or is it just Britney's fault? More on a topic we first looked at over the weekend.
• Why are Missing Women the Big Story on TV News?
  USA Today's media columnist Peter Johnson looks at why broadcast news loves the story about the vanishing woman.
• Editing the dictionary
  What do lexicographers do as they edit new editions of the various dictionaries? An article from the National Endowment for the Humanities web site.
• Reaching Spanish-Speaking Audiences with Newspapers
  Poynter Institute columnist O. Ricardo Pimentel writes about why newspapers are expanding into the Spanish-language market. (Hint: It isn't to be politically correct!) Here are links to a few Spanish papers:
  • La Opinión (Los Angeles)
  • El Nuevo Herald (Miami)
  • La Estrella (Fort Worth)

Monday, April 5, 2004

• An Online Chat with C-SPAN Founder Brian Lamb
  Lamb talks with Washington Post readers about 25 years of C-SPAN.
• Air America Makes Its Debut
  Liberal talk radio network Air America made its first broadcast on Wednesday, March 31. The Washington Post's media reporter Howard Kurtz takes a look. Also, here is a link to the Air America site.
  • Air America Radio web site
  • Bill O'Reilly gives his take on Air America (NY Daily News)
• Does television lead to short attention span?
  A new study looks at whether early TV viewing leads to short attention spans in children. (USA Today)
• More on How Media Handled Images of Fallujah Attack
  • Michael Getler, ombudsman for the Washington Post
    How did the WP go about making their decisions of what to run?
  • Setting War Photography in Context
    Photo historian Martha A. Sandweiss sets the photos from Fallujah in the context of our earliest photographs of war in this article on the op/ed page of the NY Times.

Saturday, April 3, 2004

• Audio Weekend: Pop Culture News from NPR
  On the weekend, Living in a Media World will feature a wrap up of audio stories from National Public Radio that deal with pop culture and/or media issues.
  • Remake of "Walking Tall" shows a different era of movies
    Movie critic Kenneth Turan reviews the remake of the 70s B-movie classic "Walking Tall." What is interesting about this review is how Turan looks at the changing nature of B-movies from the 70s to the present day.
  • Berry Gordy Jr. sells his last piece of Motown
    Although Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. sold off his ownership of the Motown record label some years back, he just recently decided to let go of his ownership of the publishing rights of the Motown song library known as the Jobete collection. This Morning Edition audio story talks about the significance of the Motown music library.
  • Erik Clapton pays tribute to blues pioneer Robert Johnson
    This page contains not only the story that ran on Morning Edition on Tuesday, March 30, but also links to a range of materials on the blues.
  • Bluegrass meets rap in "hick-hop" music
    A different kind of alternative music.
  • Does file sharing hurt CD sales?
    Researchers say the conventional wisdom may be wrong on this.
  • "Home on the Range" closes out hand-drawn animation era for Disney
• What if it looks like a joke, sounds like a joke, but really is real?
  CNN, David Letterman, and the White House do a dance around real video that many thought was fake. (USA Today)
  • WP TV columnist Lisa de Moraes weighs in.

Friday, April 2, 2004

• Disturbing News Images
  The recent attack on civilians and soldiers in Iraq produced some horrific images that challenged editors and broadcast news directors. How do you serve the public's need to understand what is happening in Iraq without being gratuitously violent? All of the following links contain disturbing graphic images.
  • What might be the influence of disturbing video? (USA Today)
  • Photo gallery of Fallujah Attack (USA Today).
  • Video of Fallujah Attack (USA Today)
    Requires Real Player to view.
  • Narrated slide show (NY Times)
  • You be the editor from Poytner.org
    Roy Peter Clark from the Poynter Institute has set up a page where you can try making the editorial decisions on whether to run the recent graphic photos from Iraq. He'll walk you through questions of whether to run an image, how to run it, and what the consequences of your decision will be.
  • Editors discuss how they handled the photos on NPR's All Things Considered
• Editing of Disturbing Photos
  Kenneth F. Irby, the visual journalism group leader for Poynter, discusses how editors went about editing the photos from the recent bombings in Spain. Lots of examples of how images were used in different publications.

Thursday, April 1, 2004

• Media Law in the News
  There have been a lot of media news items over the last few days dealing with privacy, file sharing, and indecency
  • Supreme Court ruling on privacy
    The Supreme Court ruled unanimously not to release photos of Vince Foster's suicide. The court argued that Foster's family's right to privacy outweighed the public's right to see the images. (NY Times)
  • Recording industry goes after file sharing in Europe
    The recording industry in Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Canada are going after file sharers in much the same way as the RIAA has in the United States. (NY Times)
  • Sen. McCain works to resolve indecency issue
    Ever since the whole Janet Jackson fuss, congress has been pushing through legislation to strengthen the penalties for broadcasting indecent content. Of course, no one is quite sure what is indecent (or obscene for that matter). (Yahoo Business News)
  • Supreme Court First Amendment Cases at Oyez
• Fighting Spyware
  If spam and spim weren't enough, online media consumers are also worried about the effects of spyware -- software you may have unknowingly downloaded that tracks what you do online. (Media Post)
• Iraqi Editor Argues against Censorship
  On Monday, I ran an item about the closing of a radical Iraqi newspaper by the U.S. authority. This response, from an Iraqi newspaper editor, ran in USA Today. This material would work well with a discussion on media and the world, media in the Middle East, or media and politics.