Questions, comments or suggested links? Contact me at: rhanson40@gmail.com Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, a new text for Introduction to Mass Communication classes.

Thursday - August 31, 2006

• Stranger in a Strange Land Dept. - The Life of a Foreign Correspondent
  Reporting from a foreign country is never easy, and if you're not welcome in the country you're reporting from it's even harder. NPR's On The Media has run two stories recently on this topic. On Aug. 18th, OTM looked at the challenges American reporters face trying to cover Cuba. The Miami Herald has been largely banned from reporting from Cuba because of it is seen as being supportive of the Cuban exile community in Miami, and so reporters have to go there undercover. Then, on Aug. 25th, OTM looked at the other side of the coin - the life of an Iranian journalist posted to the United States. Fascinating reading/listening.
  
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Tuesday - August 29, 2006

• Support Our Reporters Dept. - Covering Middle East A Thankless Job
  The WP's media reporter Howard Kurtz takes a look at the risks and criticisms that foreign correspondents, especially those in the Middle East, face on a regular basis. As Kurtz writes:
  
  For all the abuse heaped on journalists these days, it's worth remembering that there is a hardy band of reporters, producers, cameramen and photographers who risk their lives and put their families through great stress simply to tell the rest of us what is transpiring in faraway lands.
  
  Thoughtful and sobering commentary.
  (Washington Post)
  
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• London Calling Dept. - What's News in the US That Isn't News in Britain?
  If you ever needed proof of the importance of the First Amendment, the recent suppression of a New York Times story in Britain provides fresh evidence.
  
  On Monday, the Times ran a major story on the front page of its American edition on the "' trove of evidence' that British police have collected against the suspects arrested earlier this month for allegedly plotting to bomb airliners with liquid explosives." Just the sort of reporting we need in these uncertain times.
  
  But in Britain it is illegal to publish stories that could be "deemed prejudicial to defendants charged with a crime." With printed editions, it's relatively simple to handle these problems. The Times in the US ran the story, the International Herald Tribune's British edition (which is published by the Times) did not run the story. But what about online editions? According to USA Today's On Deadline blog, the Times initially left the story off the web site, and then eventually found a way to use targeted advertising software to keep the story off web site in Britain.
  
  Please note that the Times suppressed the story voluntarily for fear of falling afoul of Britain's fair trial law. The paper did not wait for the government to censor it.
  
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Monday - August 28, 2006

• Support Our Reporters Dept. - Fox News Journalists Released in Gaza Following Two Weeks in Captivity
  Fox News journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig have been released by a group calling itself Holy Jihad Brigades after having been held hostage for 13 days. The reporter and cameraman were shown on a video tape saying they had converted to Islam. Centanni said in a later interview on Fox that they had been forced to make the statements at gunpoint. Centanni and Wiig said they hoped their kidnapping did not discourage journalists from reporting on the Palestinians. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least seven journalists have been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip over the last two years. (Washington Post)
  
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• I Like To Watch Dept. - TV Viewership Up and Aging
  The good news for broadcasters is that TV viewership is up 1.1 percent to a total of 283.5 million viewers, according the Nielsen Media Research, the folks who count eyeballs locked on the telly. The bad news is that the hot growing group of viewers is the 55-64 demographic - which is the group that networks and advertisers are least interested in. Hispanics and Asians are also fast growing segments of the audience. Oh, and the size of the New Orleans television audience is down at least 11 percent.... Betcha didn't see that one coming. (Washington Post)
  
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Friday - August 25, 2006

• Living In A Media World Is Back!
  Living in a Media World has returned from its summer vacation and has moved into its new home at RalphEHanson.com. I'm still working on the makeover, which will feature RSS and indexing, so keep your eyes open. (I just have to learn how to use Movable Type with my new BlueHost page. Any readers in the Morgantown area want to help?)

Tuesday - August 1, 2006

Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

• Why Doesn't MTV Want To Talk About Its 25th Birthday?
  Because it's really hard to be hip when you were born seven years before the center of your target audience! Also, it's the 25th anniversary of the cable channel, and MTV is now a brand, not a channel. Funny, that's what the head of the New York Times said a couple of years back.... (USA Today)
• Are Men An Endangered Species When It Comes To Local News Anchors?
  In the 1970s, we started to see the growth of women sitting at the anchor desk of local television news, usually with a handsome man, providing a mom 'n' dad pairing to head up the family news. Thirty years later, there's some question (according to the Washington Post, anyway, as to whether there is a spot for men left as local anchors. Is it because viewers like women better, are they better anchors, are they part of a cost-cutting strategy? Provocative reading.
• Are Paris Hilton's Lips Obscene? Or At Least Indecent? Or Just Plain Offensive?
  Apparently not. The FCC has decided (or it least it seems they have decided) that it's enough for broadcasters to bleep out naughty words from television shows. They don't have to also pixilate out their lips. What a relief. Though in some cases (see the headline) it might not be such a bad idea. (Broadcast & Cable)
  
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