California Decision Backs Online Free Speech

Here are some of the early arrivals at the Getty Center last week. We had 64 MC101s and guests, a fine turnout considering the weather (a bit dreary) and the timing of the field trip (the day before Thanksgiving).

Can you lose a libel suit for placing someone else's libelous message on the Internet? No, according to the California Supreme Court in a decision that is being hailed by those in favor of online free expression but is causing ripples of worry across traditional newsgathering organizations.

The decision sets up a two-tiered structure that gives websites considerably more protection from libel suits than newspapers, magazines, radio, television and other non-online media have traditionally had. This means that printing a libelous letter to the editor can still get a print newspaper sued, but running the same letter on the newspaper's website would not put the newspaper at risk for a libel suit.

Despite this decision, the author or authors of defamatory messages can still be sued for libel no matter where--online or offline--their messages appear.

This medianote fit in nicely with our discussion of the media Law segment of the course. Our discussion was based on this Los Angeles Times article.

***GABCAST JAMMED For some reason. Gabcast is not letting me make an audio post. Hoppefully, it will be corrected soon.

***GABCAST UNJAMMED I was finally able to get through to Gabcast and make the audio post on Thursday afternoon.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #8

Research Paper Assignment Sheet

I thought it might be a good idea to post the research paper assignment for those students who might have misplaced the sheet they got in class.

Research Paper
Stuff Is Good: An Examination of Advertising

"The Ad and the Ego" claims that advertising creates needs, encourages over consumption, warps American culture and makes us insecure about ourselves.

Is it true?

This paper will be an analysis based upon your research. Research the four questions below. Divide your paper into six segments: A. introduction, B. answer to question 1, C. question 2, D. question 3, E. question 4, F. conclusion. Find credible sources to research your answer. You will be graded on the quantity and quality of your sources, and how well you use them in your text. Cite your sources, MLA style, as you use them in the text. Be sure to use full MLA-style citation information in your works cited section. Students who merely provide a list of web addresses will be marked down.

Length: Around 1500 words (plus works cited section) Below are the four questions that you will research:

•Does advertising frequently reinforce traditional gender roles?
•Does some advertising make particular groups of people uncomfortable with their own bodies?
•Does advertising put ideas across in pictures that the viewers would be more likely to question if they were put forth in words?
•Do some ads portray a sort of dream life for the targeted viewer?


Research

The depth and quality of your research matters. Quotes from The Ad and the Ego and your textbook are only minimally acceptable as sources. Your research should branch out beyond those two sources. You may cite articles or books about advertising as sources. Be careful about using web sites as sources; many of them are not credible. If you cannot clearly state who is the writer of the material on the web site and what qualifies that person or persons to be an authority on the subject, then you probably do not have a credible source.

Please don’t feel that this paper must steer you toward an anti-advertising or anti-materialistic position. If your position is that advertising is good economically and culturally, please feel free to take that position. Just make sure that you find sources (perhaps in advertising or business journals or magazines) that support your case.

About the Ads

Although your research should focus on expert sources, you may also cite specific broadcast, print, or online advertising as examples of points that you are trying to establish. Just make sure that the ads are sophisticated enough to be worthy of analysis. For example, if you are trying to determine how advertising uses symbolism to create needs, pick ads that are likely to contain symbolism, such as perfume ads.

Due Date

OJ, Fox and Sleaze

OJ Simpson's NFL rookie card, 1970.

Tuesday and Wednesday MC101 classes had a medianote about the OJ Simpson controversy and the eventual decision by Fox to shelve the book If I Did It and the promotional two-part TV interview that would have undoubtedly generated both ratings and book sales. The always-reliable National Public Radio has done a story about the OJ-Fox Saga.

Generally speaking, the MC101s were only somewhat disgusted by the Simpson book and interview, which I think may have something to do with the mass media environment in which they were raised. Sure, big media has always been about attracting audiences and making money, but I don't remember major media companies being quite so desperate, quite so willing to do, anything, than they have been in recent years.

As for Mr. Simpson, what a strange public figure he has become. For decades, he was an American hero, first as a tremendously talented tailback at USC, then as a great star in the NFL. An acting career followed, which included various disaster movies and a turn as guest host on Saturday Night Live. He was a respected corporate pitchman for Hertz, "The Superstar of Rent a Car." Then came the rumors of spousal abuse, which sounded more and more serious as time went on. Then, of course, the murders, the low-speed chase, the criminal trial (The Trial of the Century!), the civil trial, and on and on and on.

I can think of few people who have been famous (and infamous) in quite so many different ways.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #7

Applying to the University of Pretty Pictures

Here are some of the college and university recruitment materials that Glendale College students were tempted with at Transfer Day.

Public relations is about cultivating a positive public image. That can be beneficial to products, companies, political candidates, governments, and even colleges and universities.

Transfer Day is a public relations feast. Dozens of colleges and universities are represented at nearly identical tables where they try to persusade students into transferring to their institution. Brochures, CDs, pens and pencils, folders, pennants, little foam rubber toys, and and other give-away items are put in the hands of students. We discussed a variety of these public relations materials.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #6

Can an Alternative News Source Be Too Alternative?

Ask an average American about major sources of news from outside the U.S. and the BBC is likely to be the top pick, followed perhaps by Tass or the New China News Agency. But after that, our typical American might mention the TV-based news operation that he or she has heard a lot about but has not tuned in to: Al Jazeera.

That may be about to change. According to this National Public Radio story, Al Jazeera is launching an English-language 24-hour television news channel. Based in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera promises to present international news from a Middle East point of view. But winning over a sizable American audience may be difficult. U.S. cable companies don't seem to be jumping at the opportunity to carry a network that some viewers associate with the terrorist organization al-Qaeda.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #5

Taking Education to a New Level

Meet your new economics teachers.

Economics has been called "The Dismal Science." Economics classes are sometimes called something like that, only more profane.

Therefore, the answer to some students' prayers has arrived in the form of economics-class-as-video-game. According to this National Public Radio story, students can now earn 3 units for working their way through a game where aliens crash land on Earth and run smack into some harsh economic realities.

Much of the discussion in class was about how much this concept could be adapted to other classes. I know one thing for sure: gym teachers will be a whole lot less scary if they can only assign virtual laps.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #4



***WHOA, PARDNER We had a tremendous turnout at the Autry National Center Yesterday afternoon for our MC101 field trip. My preliminary count was 83 MC101s, plus a half dozen or so guests. Thankfully, the big group was considerate and good-natured and the field trip went off without a hitch.

When an Hour Online Is Too Much, and 1,000 Hours Is Not Enough...

This graphic is from a net addiction page at Stanford University.

Internet addiction is becoming more and more accepted as a legitimate psychological addiction, like compulsive gambling or shopping. And this recognition is happening far beyond the borders of the United States. China has recently opened its first Internet addiction clinic in Beijing. An eight-bed residential clinic has opened in Amsterdam. Professionals at the Amsterdam clinic estimate that up to 20 percent of gamers, many of them children, could develop an Internet addiction.

Stanford University researchers recently conducted a telephone survey of more than 2,500 Internet users and found that almost 6 percent said their Internet use had adversely affected their relationships with family and friends, more than 8 percent hid their Internet use from their partners, an nearly 14 percent found it difficult to stay away from the Internet for several days.

This medianote, based on a recent BBC News article, generated a lot of interesting classroom discussion.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #3

BON BON: Have I Got News for You...

Mass Comm 101 SI Leader Mike Arvizu is a news guy, serving admirably on our campus newspaper, the El Vaquero and is also a reporter out in the community with the Valley Sun. Anyhow, Mike is the source of today's Bon Bon. At Newseum, the online news museum, there is a place where you can see what's on the front page of today's newspaper in many, many cities.

Today, it was 549 front pages from 52 countries. Also, check out the archived front pages to compare how various papers covered the same big news stories.

Welcome to Kazakhstan

Here's a map for geography-challenged Americans showing where Kazakhstan is located.

Does Kazakhstan have an image problem? Do movie-goers believe there is a grain of truth in "Borat"? And if the answers are "Yes" and "Yes," than what does Kazakhstan (the real-life Kazakhstan) do about this?

According to a recent National Public Radio story, the Kazakhstan Embassy has been giving interviews to set the record straight. Kazakhstan has been buying advertising on U.S. television and elsewhere to tout the virtues of their fledgling nation. And Baron Sacha Cohen, the comic who plays the oafish fictional journalism from Kazakhstan, has been invited to visit the place he has been making fun of.
Gabcast! Club MediaNote #2 - Borat

Now on to the Other Midterms...

Here is a sampling of the political direct mail pieces that have been sent to me recently.

Today's medianote was about the midterm elections that will be carried out across the country on Tuesday and how to get in-depth, nonpartisan political information.

Before we got to the nonpartisan part, I showed some examples of the very partisan direct mail that registered voters get before the election. The advantage of this type of advertising to political campsigns is that direct mail can be oh-so-targeted: by zip code, by party affiliation, by gender, by organizational membership, by likelihood to vote, and a lot of other factors. We also looked at different types of direct mail ads: the endorsement ad, the attack ad, the slate mailer, and others.

For nonpartisan voter information we briefly discussed the brief and easy to digest information put out by the League of Women Voters.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #1 - Political Advertising

We discuss political advertising and the upcoming election. This is not one of my better posts. I'm still trying to make Gabcast work.

Bon Bon: Wait, Wait!

I do a lot of MediaNotes that are derived from National Public Radio stories. So I'm pretty sure that the MC101s are sold on the idea that NPR is very informative. But I'm not sure they know that it can be darned entertaining.

Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me! is a great example of the lighter side of NPR. It's a comedy show based on current events, and it is at its best when skewering political stories. Given that the midterm elections are next week, this might be a perfect time to listen to the web version of the program.

Rockin' Out on the Big Yellow Bus

Alana Stoneking puts a group of MC101s through their paces during a noontime review of material in the first half of Mass Comm 101. Midterm is coming up soon.

Bus Radio plays kid-appropriate music on school buses, which apparently serves to lessen rowdy behavior by the kids. However, Bus Radio is controversial because each hour of programming comes with eight minutes of commericals. The company that makes Bus Radio takes its profit and gives a small cut to the school districts that allow their programming to be played.

As the following National Public Radio story explains, some parents and others feel this commercialism aimed at children in a semi-school setting is morally wrong.

***AUDIOBLOGGER LIVES for one more day, at least.