Looking for Student Blogs

I'm always looking for links to blogs being written by student journalists. If you have one, or know someone who does, drop me a note!

Dr. H

Second Edition Available Now!

The second edition of Mass Communication: Living in a Media World is now available at the very student-friendly price of $45. (Yes, the new edition sells for less than used copies often do of the first edition.) It features a newly strengthened media literacy focus, greater depth on a number of topics, extensive coverage of "long-tail" media, and new chapters on media effects and global media. For more information, visit the CQ Press website.

NEWS: The RSS feed is fixed! Check it out.

NOTE: The video on these pages does not work with Internet Explorer. Try Firefox if you are having trouble viewing the video.

Going through a very busy time right now. Will keep having links, but I'm going to have to keep the comments to a minimum over the next few weeks.

I'm now on Twitter. Follow me at ralphehanson

Author Pam Hanson blogs on Holding on and Letting Go

Wednesday - Dec. 23, 2009

Entertainments For Little Christmas Eve
Scandinavians call the night before Christmas Eve "Little Christmas Eve." Here are a couple of media entertainments for your holiday viewing pleasure.

• Have Very Blondie Christmas!
  80s icon Blondie has a new music video out - a power-pop version of "We Three Kings." Merry Christmas to all! (Thanks, Clicks and Pops)
  
  
  
• Are HP Computers Racist?
  This isn't a serious question. Obviously, a computer doesn't have an opinion on racial equality. But... HP is dealing with a bit of a public relations problem from a tongue-in-cheek YouTube video that illustrates that fancy new facial recognition software for a new Hewlett Packard computer works great on white faces and not at all on black faces. Oops.... (Not sure where I originally came across this, but the link is to Wired's Gadget Lab.
  
  
  
  
• Christmas Caroling With The Roches
  Maggie, Terre and Suzzy sing favorites. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
  
  
  
  

Link

Thursday - Dec. 17, 2009

Chris Henry Was Supposed To Be My Student

The news was tragic. Cincinnati Bengals player Chris Henry died this morning in a senseless accident - falling out of the back of a truck being driven by his fiancé. The outpouring of Facebook statuses and Tweets was immediate.

"Very sad to hear of Chris Henry's untimely death...

"RIP Chris Henry ... troublemaker, but a life ended WAY too early... tragic. :("

"A sad day for fans, wherever you may be. RIP CH."

It was a sad day for all who loved to watch Chris Henry play football, and an even sadder day for his fiancé and three children.

Chris Henry was supposedly one of my students several years ago. I say supposedly because although he was enrolled in my class, he never showed up. He wasn't the sort of person you could miss, even in a 350-seat class. By the end of the semester, he had left the university to go on to his checkered NFL career.

Chris Henry could certainly play football. I don't know whether he was ever really able to be a student.

During my 20+ years as a university professor, I've seen a number of athletes who are excellent students and many more who are hard-working, dedicated students. I have seen the hard-working athletic support staff trying to make sure student athletes perform well in the classroom as well as on the field or court.

But I have also seen student athletes struggling through multiple-choice tests with scores that were no better than random guessing. And these students were trying. They would spend the whole 75 minutes of test time attempting to figure out the answers. I am convinced that a few of them couldn't read the test.

I know that many athletes use their talent to pay for an education they couldn’t get otherwise. And I know that Division II and III athletes oftentimes compete simply to be able to compete. I enjoy watching college football and basketball.

But that doesn’t eliminate the real tragedy of Chris Henry. All that mattered was that he could play football. No one ever held him accountable to be a fully developed human being.

The death of Chris Henry was a tragedy. On many, many levels.

Link

Wednesday - Dec. 16, 2009

Tiger Woods Meets Tabloid Laundering

Sensational news clearly attracts viewers and readers, especially when it’s truly out of the norm. When Michael Jackson died unexpectedly in 2009, the coverage of his death and memorial service dominated the media for several weeks, matching that of Princess Diana’s death in 1997. And when Tiger Woods had his minor car accident in late 2009, the media coverage started exploding when the news started breaking that Woods had been having affairs with at least 11 different women.

The mainstream media use occasions such as Michael Jackson’s death or Tiger Wood’s infidelity as an opportunity to engage in tabloid laundering or tabloidization, which is when respectable media report on what the tabloids are reporting (without doing the reporting themselves). Journalist and commentator Margaret Carlson says, “We take what the tabloids do and write about, and that way get what we wouldn’t write about originally into the magazine. And then we run pictures of the pictures to show how terrible the pictures are.”

You can watch a round-table discussion of "respectable media's" coverage of the Tiger Woods story in this clip from CNN's Sunday show - Reliable Sources. If you're more into reading, you can see the transcript of the program here.

Link

Monday - Dec. 14, 2009

Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

• Are Your Text Messages Private If You Send Them Using a Work-Owned Phone?
  The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a case on this. HINT: Regardless of what the court ends up ruling, don't sent explicit text messages from a phone you don't pay the bill on!
• Why is Wired Magazine the Best of the Decade?
  Especially when the decade has a year to go! (Did we learn nothing back in 2000? 2001 was the first year of the new decade.) The irony here is that the award is from AdWeek, and Wired was in the news this spring for having trouble selling ad space.
• What Is The Future of Online Television?
  Mashable lists seven companies that are reinventing TV online. No mention of Comcast here, however....
• Is James Cameron's Avatar Doomed to Failure?
  I wouldn't bet against Mr. Titanic, though I have friends who hope he falls on his face.

Monday - Dec. 7, 2009

Things I Learned Using Twitter on a Snowy Night in Nebraska

• How To Find A Journalism Job - By The Creator of AngryJournalist.com
  Some pretty decent advice, even if times were good: Get real about your situation; Know the business; Don't be stupid; Think of yourself as a brand; Stop blaming others; Know where you want to work; Don't limit yourself. And I might add, don't be an angry journalist! (Thanks, Brian)
• First New Media Editor Named to Pulitzer Board
  Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei has been elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board. There is a print component to Politico, but the web site is its major distribution channel. (Thanks, Jim)
  
• How Much Do We Watch?
  Of course, this doesn't just mean TV - it's also online and mobile. It's the Nielsen Three Screen Report. (Thanks, Nielsen)
• Have a Jabba The Hutt Christmas
  I ain't sayin' anything more on this one! (Thanks, Julio)

Link

Thursday - Dec. 3, 2009

Comcast Officially Announces Plan to Acquire NBC Universal From General Electric

So it's now official - Comcast and NBC Universal have announced their $30 billion merger. Comcast will buy 51 percent of the broadcast network/movie studio from General Electric, which will remain a minority owner of the NBCU for the time being. The merger/acquisition will create a media giant. As you read about all of this, keep in mind the following issues:

• Comcast is the nation's largest cable and and Internet service provide, serving 25 percent of U.S. homes.
• Overall, Comcast would own more than 20 percent of all television viewing hours. NBCU owns the Telemundo Spanish-language broadcast network, and cable channels USA, CNBC, MSNBC, SyFy, Bravo, Oxygen, and my personal fave - The Weather Channel. Comcast already owns E! Entertainment Television, Versus, Style, the Golf Channel, and the Major League Baseball channel.
• The merger may result in the most popular television programs being put behind a paywall on the Internet.
• Mergers of pipeline providers and content providers don't always work out. Google AOL Time Warner if you have any questions.

Link

Wednesday - Dec. 2, 2009

Comcast/NBCU Watch - Part II: Critics Weigh in on Transaction

I've written before about what critics have to say about the likely acquisition of NBCU by Comcast. Here's some more commentary (largely negative) about the transaction:

• Public Interest Groups Worry About Comcast-NBCU Merger
  WP tech blogger Cecilia Kang weighs in with consumer advocacy groups' objections to the deal.
• Huffington Post's Josh Silver - Why We Should Be Afraid of Comcast/NBC Merger
  Silver points out that Comcast is the largest cable company and largest residential broadband provider in the United States. It is a $34 billion business with 24 million subscribers. Among Silver's objections to Comcast's takeover of NBC are:
• Comcast has record profits most quarters and raises cable rates on a regular basis.
• The company is anti-union.
• The company is not interested in independent, alternative programming.
• The company has blocked legal peer-to-peer file sharing services from its networks.
• The deal could result in current giants such as News Corp. and Disney merging with distribution companies like Time Warner Cable or ATT. (Ummm.... Not to interrupt this rant, didn't Time Warner - world's biggest media company - just break up with Time Warner Cable? Might this indicate that not all media companies are in love with owning every inch of distribution? Just sayin...)
• Liberty Media's John Malone - Comcast-NBCU Would Be Too Powerful
  Not that the partial owner of satellite TV provider DirecTV would have any conflict of interest here. On the other hand, Malone certainly understands big media. (Huffington Post)

Link

Tuesday - Dec. 1, 2009

Comcast/NBCU Watch - Part I: General Electric Buys Vivendi's Portion of NBC Universal; Comcast deal looking more certain

General Electric has reportedly reached a tentative agreement to buy Vivendi's 20 percent ownership of NBC Universal for approximately $5.8 billion, according to the NYT's DealBook blog. This would give GE full ownership of the broadcast network/movie studio, which would then allow it to sell 51 percent of NBCU to cable giant Comcast. GE would then gradually sell the rest of its interest in NBCU to Comcast over the next several years.

• New York Times Print Version of Story
  Basically the same as the blog story for those of you hung up on legacy media.
• For the Finance Geeks - Bloomberg News Gives Its Take on GE/Vivendi/Comcast
  All the gory details of the transaction from Bloomberg, one of the few big media operations making good money off of news these days.
• Bloomberg - Regulatory Hurdles To Comcast-NBC Deal
  There's no law against a cable company owning a broadcast network, but it might raise red flags at the FCC.

Tomorrow - Critics Weigh in on Transaction

Monday - Nov. 30, 2009

Things I Learned This Morning From Media Post Newsletters

• Super Bowl Advertisers Will Also Be Exploiting Social Media
  In other words, advertisers will be using Facebook, Twitter and the like to make the most of their Super Bowl spending.
• Scion Using Online Video Games to Market Cars
  Toyota's downscale, youth-oriented brand is using an online Facebook game to help promote a new limited edition car going on sale December 2.
• Milan Prosecutor Wants To Jail Google Execs for Invasion of Privacy
  If you ever doubt that the first amendment is unique to the United States, check out this story about Italian officials seeking to put Google execs in jail for allowing a video clip of four boys bullying another boy on YouTube.
• Glenn Beck Continues To Draw Advertisers
  When Fox News host Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist," the show lost several of its top-name advertisers. But the spots formerly taken by companies like Procter & Gamble, Clorox, and Geico have now been snapped up by smaller advertisers.

Link

Tuesday - Nov. 24, 2009

Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)
BTW, if you aren't reading Media Bistro's Daily Media News Feed, you should....

• Is Twitter For Sale?
  Nope, but an IPO might be in its future. And Twitter finally has at least a small revenue stream. (Bloomberg)
• Is Lou Dobbs Really Running For President?
  Maybe keeping him on CNN would have been a better idea.... (Politico)
• Can Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Save Content?
  For all that he gets portrayed as an evil force in media, Rupert Murdoch is one of the few people out there who seems to have any idea how to survive in the new media world. He's in negotiation with Microsoft to provide exclusive News Corp. content (Fox News, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, etc.) in a way that will actually make money. Radical, Chuck. (The Daily Beast)
• Are Magazines Getting Ready For the Mythical Apple Tablet?
  Wired, Time Inc., Conde Nast, and Hearst are all working on getting ready for a better platform for digital magazines. Might that be Apple's tablet? (9 to 5 Mac)

Link

November Entries

Living in a Media World Archive