How Hate Spreads

There are probably more ideas floating around our society than ever before. This isn't always a good thing. The Internet has been identified as a prime place where extreme ideas--some of them potentially violent--spread. Adolescent boys are often being targeted for exposure to these ideas. NPR reports.

Questions...

•When was the first time you were confronted with hateful or otherwise dangerous material on the internet? How old were you?

•Have you experienced recommendations that are more and more extreme?

•"Neurodivergent" boys and men with career or relationship setbacks are particularly likely to receive these hate messages. What can they do to keep themselves from going off the deep end? What can we do to help them from doing that?

•Is this a serious problem? What will you do as a parent to make sure your children are not affected by extreme ideas on the Internet?

The Digital Divide

The Digital Divide is a classic story of haves vs. have-nots. Except in this case it is not access to nutritious food, clean drinking water or safe neighborhoods. It is about access to digital devices and the Internet. The theory is that growing up on the wrong side of the digital divide can harm your present and future life in significant ways ... access to education, for example.

This report is from WUNC, the NPR station at the University of North Carolina.

Questions...

•Why did the college student featured in the story spend an unusual amount of time in a local McDonalds parking lot?

•Why do around 20 million Americans lack access to broadband Internet?

•How did the federal government help rural America from falling behind the rest of the country in the 1930s?

Dead Actors, Live Audiences

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to Mass Comm 101 classes in Spring 2018.

If I want to see Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in a movie, I find a copy of their 1949 film, Adam's Rib. Soon I may be able to see them in a whole now movie created many years after their deaths. Movie technology has advanced to the degree that not only do we have trouble telling animation from live action. We now have difficulty telling live actors from dead ones. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Is this technology good for the movie business or bad for the movie business? Why?

•What jobs will this technology eliminate? What jobs will it create?

•You are a major Hollywood star. How do you use this technology to fund your retirement? How do you use it to provide income for your heirs?

•Will the audience want to see new movies (or TV shows or video games) with John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe in them? In 50 years will audiences want to see new movies with a young Jennifer Lawrence or Johnny Depp?

Beware of Fabricated Video

We are rightly concerned about polluted air and water. But what about our polluted information environment? Claire Wardle is the co-founder and director of First Draft, a non-profit focused on research about misinformation. NPR summarized her TED talk with a Six Minute Listen.

Questions...

•According to Claire Wardle, what is a common feature of some of the most effective disinformation?

•What has led to the rise of misinformation?

•What damage was done by a fabricated video that claimed Pakistan's polio vaccination program harmed children?

Zooming into Controversy

Zoom is the videoconferencing platform of the moment. As schools across the world (including Glendale College) moved to remote education, Zoom became the most popular live presentation app. But Zoom has been an imperfect classroom tool. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Why has Zoom triggered an FBI warning?

•What are some examples of "Zoom Bombing"?

•According to the security analyst interviewed for the story, what features does Zoom lack?

•What disclaimer did NPR make about its coverage of this story?

New Stage for Movies

If you are a moviemaker, you probably dream of the big movie premiere, followed by audiences flocking to theaters nationwide. Well, all of that has changed for the time being. This NPR story tells what Universal is doing with its next few movie releases.

Questions...

•What is the strategy for releasing movies when no movie theaters are open?

•Why don't studios usually make movies available for streaming right away?

•Is this change expected to be permanent?

On a Radio Long Ago and Far Away

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in January 2016.

Radio dramas and comedies were commonplace American entertainment from the 1930s through the 1950s. In the decades since there have been sporadic attempts to revive the genre, including an NPR-created version of "Star Wars" in 1981.

Could podcasts--which are done on nearly every imaginable non-fiction topic--possibly find a place for a new crop of radio dramas. Would people listen?

Questions...

•How do we listen to the radio, or radio-like programming such as podcasts? Where does it fit in in our lives?

•How is writing a radio drama different than writing a movie or TV show?

•Is it easier to turn a book into a movie or is it easier to turn a book into a radio drama?

•Who has listened to an audio book? Would a radio drama version be more satisfying or less satisfying? Why?

•Does the Long Tail Theory suggest that radio dramas are due for a revival? Why or why not?