Archive for January, 2011

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Flunk ‘Em All?

Monday, January 31st, 2011

RE: Classroom Protocol — Text Messaging, Cell Phoning. Computers in the Classroom. ADD/ADHD. Tourette Syndrome. Paranoid Schizophrenia. Et. Al.

Inspired by a discussion on the Hunter-Listserv several weeks ago about students plunking away on laptops in classes, the following was to be posted on the Hunter-L listserv the first week of classes but I changed my mind. I see no point. I think I’ve pretty much exhausted whatever value that listserv held for me. Nevertheless, what I’ve would have posted if I hadn’t changed my mind …

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FAIR Media Advisory: Keith Olbermann’s Departure from MSNBC Shows Limits of Corporate Media Liberalism – Part 3

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Now, I understand what I wanted to say in the previous post about Keith Olberman et. al. but didn’t know how to get at it: I would love to see a show somehow teaming up The Rachel Maddow with Democracy Now! If such things were possible. Even just an experiment.

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FAIR Media Advisory: Keith Olbermann’s Departure from MSNBC Shows Limits of Corporate Media Liberalism – Part 2

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

A quickie:  I watched bits n’pieces of Olbermann. I watched Rachel Maddow a few times and wondered how long MSNBC allow her to pummel the extreme right. She was very good but something about her shows seemed artificial and more like entertainment, as in, Okay, you think these right wing sleaze bags are going to heaven? Well, watch this choreography we put together to make sure that you know they’re really going to hell. A little over the top, I thought.

I  considered her and his shows marketing devices for MSNBC to compete against Fox for viewership. Whereas Fox never seemed that way: True diehard neo-nativists — neo-fascistic, comfortable in the presence of birthers and all the other neo-bigots. A real bigot revue.

I  believe that the MSNBC high mucky-mucks and the Fox high mucky-mucks meet somewhere in an upscale bar and schmooze, slap each other on the back, commiserate.

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FAIR Media Advisory: Keith Olbermann’s Departure from MSNBC Shows Limits of Corporate Media Liberalism

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Whether the abrupt termination of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann’s contract on January 21 was connected to Olbermann’s left-of-center politics or the recent purchase of NBC by Comcast from General Electric, the host’s departure provides an opportunity to reflect on the bigger picture.


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It Was One of Those Semesters: Fall 2010

Monday, January 24th, 2011

I was surprised when students in my two writing classes, feature and introductory news, declined to participate in a conference call with the President of the United States, September 27, 2010, as student journalists at 300 other student publications did.

Not one expressed an interest.

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State of the Union and You

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

Posted by on the White House Blog by Dan Pfeiffer on January 21, 2011 at 12:29 PM EST

On Tuesday, January 25, at 9 p.m. EST, President Obama will deliver the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol.  We have been working on a number of ways citizens can get involved in the State of the Union and ask their questions of President Obama and senior Administration officials.

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The Perils of Bovine Text Messaging: The Issue That Continues Needs to Be in Context

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Giving Tricia Orlando her due, contextually, that is.

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The Perils of Bovine Text Messaging: The Issue Continues

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Self-inflicted Outing:

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Fox News Sucks!

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Posted because I’m teaching a J-ethics/news responsibility class this semester.

Public Policy Polling released its second annual News Trust Poll yesterday, and what little coverage it received emphasized that Fox News is now America’s most distrusted TV news source and PBS the most trusted. — From boston.com.

Click here for more info.

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The Perils of Bovine Texting

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Two students taking Media 386, a journalism ethics course, last semester had their final grades reduced by one grade because of repeated violations of class guidelines about text messaging. Both were whining that they were treated unfairly. They  were not identified but one actually did a whine-whine on the WORD’s facebook page: She was responding to my description of the other student because she believed I was discussing her “case. When I informed her that I wasn’t, she refused to believe me. In a sense, she outed herself in a public forum!

The other notified me that she was appealing her grade (which is not a bad strategy in a department with the most sordid grading scams at Hunter). But never mind that. Below is a metaphysical rejoinder to them about the perils of texting inappropriately.

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