Category Archives: Chapter 9

Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Ralph Hanson

Did the major television networks collaborate together on deciding to give live coverage to President Trump’s border wall speech?  Kinda looks like it. They all gave coverage to 45’s speech, and they all declined to give coverage to President Obama’s … Continue reading →

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How to Deal with Offensive Speech – SNL 2018 Edition

Posted on November 12, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

So, a week ago, Pete Davidson on Saturday Night Live mocked a political candidate.  Nothing really new here, right? Except that this time he mocked Lt. Commander Dan Crenshaw, who just won a seat in congress from Texas. Crenshaw wears … Continue reading →

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Guest Blog Post – Streaming and Mainstreaming: Spotlight on LGBT Media

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

A couple of months ago I saw the following Tweet from my online friend Candice Roberts: Given that Dr. Roberts knows much more on this subject than I do, I invited her to do a guest blog post, which she … Continue reading →

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The Ghosts of Super Bowl Halftime Shows Past

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

I will confess that I was underwhelmed by Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl halftime show.  Now I’ve never been much of a JT fan, so I didn’t come at the show with high expectations. And I will further admit that I … Continue reading →

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Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves To Death is as relevant now as it was more than 30 years ago

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Ralph Hanson

Back in 1985, NYU communication professor Neil Postman published his book Amusing Ourselves To Death. This book has had an influence on me my entire academic career.  Among the reasons it had such an impact on me was this interview C-SPAN … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe) – All-Disney Edition

Posted on November 6, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

How many African-American writers does Hulu have working on their series? Zero, none, zip, nada. (And just 4.8 percent of all TV writers are black.) Behind-the-camera diversity can be as important as in-front-of-the-camera. (Disney is one of the major owners … Continue reading →

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UPDATED – Media Stories From Hurricane Harvey

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

Getting news out from Hurricane is a massive effort.  Here are a few stories about those struggles: UPDATE – How Houston Chronicle is covering home-town flooding / Why Local News Matters This Facebook status from a @HoustonChron reporter says everything you need to … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

After an end of the semester break – we are back. With all new questions! Is this the changing of the guard? MSNBC on top, Fox on bottom No probably not. But it is no longer automatic that Fox News … Continue reading →

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And now you know… the rest of the story

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

Followup to several stories we’ve been talking about here: No Kidding! United dragging report: “Our review shows that many things went wrong that day.”  United had a terrible few days a couple of weeks ago when they ended up having airport … Continue reading →

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What did Rachel Maddow do to Upset So Many People with Trump’s Tax Return?

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

Last night on her MSNBC show, Rachel Maddow and her guest, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, revealed the front two pages of President Trump’s 2005 tax return.  The reveal had been promoted on the network and via social media for … Continue reading →

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