Buffoon Dad

Do you wonder what gets into some parents? Why do they shove their precious little kids into the mass media glare where they get dehumanizing nicknames like Balloon Boy? And why do reputable news organizations fall all over themselves covering these dubious, amped-up stories?

Inquiring minds want to know.

The Los Angeles Times ran a story the other day that seeks to unravel this peculiar form of nuttiness.

War of the Websites

Could another "War of the Worlds" hoax be brewing, with old media and new media joining forces to fool the public into thinking the world is about to end due to an unfortunate arrival from outer space?

Well, maybe. An upcoming movie dramatizes a long-time Internet rumor that the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012 after another planet or large asteroid hits the Earth. Sony Pictures, the distributor of the film, is behind some fake websites that add fuel to the myth while creating publicity for the film.

Some real-life scientists are speaking out to separate scientific fact (there is no evidence that the Earth will end in 2012) from media-hyped fiction.

This medianote is based on a Los Angeles Times article.

Saving Lives, One Page at a Time

Print matters. It enables better lives for young people at life's crossroads. That's the message of this heartwarming NPR story about an edgy young man who went from street tough to respected judge through the efforts of a kind-hearted librarian. The questions generated by this Medianote: Will books matter as much when they are words on a screen? And what will libraries be when books become digital files?

Tweet Crime

Apparently you can be arrested for posting comments to Twitter. The recent G20 Conference of industrialized nations in Pittsburgh drew the usual protesters. What was unusual was that a fellow Tweeting about the actions of the police was arrested for helping others evade arrest. This arrest, National Public Radio notes, generates an interesting First Amendment question. Are Twitterers more like lookouts helping criminals escape, or are they more like journalists reporting on controversial situations?

Rethinking the Student Newspaper

Similar to professional and student newspapers across the nation, Glendale College's El Vaquero is currently being published twice: in classic paper format, and online as a news website. For at least a half century, student newspapers have patterened themselves over the large commercial dailies, such as the Los Angeles Times. But with fewer young adults reading newspapers and the large dailies struggling for economic survival, the time seems right to re-imagine the student newspaper. We discussed the print and online editions of the El Vaquero and imagined how the staff might do things differently.

Does TV Still Persuade?

Fifteen years ago, there really wasn't much of a question: If you wanted to persuade large segments of the American public to vote for this politician or buy that can of tuna, you bought 30-second spots on network television. A well crafted ad on "Home Improvement" could sell a lot of pizzas. But in the current debate over health care reform, the large drug companies have spent money on TV ads, but maybe not quite as much as you would expect. It makes this humble blogger wonder: Is the 30-second TV ad as powerful as it used to be?

We based our discussion on this NPR story.

Where Does Free Speech End?

Often, the people and businesses and media outlets that define the far reaches of free speech in the United States are extreme, unpopular and marginal. The First Amendment, after all, would not really be necessary if it was protecting only popular speech. but is there ever speech that is so disgusting that the First Amendment does not allow it? Well, the First Amendment does not protect violent threats or child pornography. But what about videos glamorizing animal cruelty? Dog fighting and other forms of animal cruelty are illegal, to be sure, but the question that the U.S. Supreme Court is wrestling with this term is whether videos of animal cruelty have First Amendment protection.

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