Coronavirus Vs. Fear (and Flu)

Fear is a powerful thing. It can lead to panicky, destructive decision making. In the opinion of Your Humble Blogger, Coronavirus has sparked concern in many and fear in others. But is Coronavirus really more dangerous than the flu? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Which are you more scared of: Coronavirus or the flu?

•Dr. Paul Slovic of the University of Oregon has created a fear index that he calls the "Dread Factor." For something to rate a high Dread Factor it must be perceived as uncontrollable, have catastrophic potential, have fatal consequences and people have involuntary exposure to it. How high does Coronavirus rate on the Dread Factor index?

•Why isn't the flu getting more attention than Coronavirus?

•Who are the sources for this story? Who are credible sources for this story? What sources are not so credible?

•What bad things could happen if people overreact (i.e. panic) over Coronavirus?

Reading Past the Cover

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in January 2019.

Your Humble Blogger has observed that there are people who develop a strong attachment to newspapers or radio shows, but there are people who truly love books. The proudly display them in their homes and keep some of them until the day they die. So what is it about books? Our conversation will start with this NPR story.

Questions...

•Why do some people develop an emotional attachment to books?

•Why does this old, low-tech medium endure in this era of digital, visual, audio media?

•Is there anything that books do better than other mass media?

•Does a book lose anything when it moves to a digital format?

Rightful Protest or Heckler's Veto?

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in May 2017.

These are tense times on college campuses. Politics are polarized and some controversial speakers have been disinvited due to worries that the speech could turn violent. Now, a Libertarian think tank has proposed model legislation that limits the power of administrators on public college campuses to take a political stand or disinvite a controversial speaker. Proponents say they are furthering the First Amendment. Opponents worry about hate speech. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What do you think of the legislation described in this story?

•What should be the line between acceptable protest of a speaker and an unacceptable protest?

•What should be the line between a controversial speaker and a hate speaker?

F for Fake

Near the end of his legendary filmmaking career, Orson Welles made a movie titled "F for Fake." It was about several instances of fraud that were so convincing that it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. It was a very confusing movie. Today, deep fake technology may make figuring out what is real harder than even Welles might have imagined. And what impact could that have on our upcoming elections? NPR reports...

Questions...

•Have you ever seen a deep fake video? What was it?

•Describe a Deep Fake that could cause Mr. Trump or Sen. Warren or some other top political figure to lose votes?

•What Deep Fake could make the divisions between men and women, gays and straights, whites and people of color worse?

•What can average people like us do to make sure (or be as sure as possible) that something is true?

Field Trip Paperwork

Your Mass Comm 101 class has several optional, extra credit field trips. In order to be eligible to attend the field trips, you must fill out three copies of the college's field trip paperwork. Students who have turned in correctly filled out paperwork correctly by the deadline (Jan. 8) will receive five points of extra credit.

Instructions on how to properly fill out the paperwork will be given in class.