Check This!

Despite not having staff writers or an editorial page, Twitter often finds itself at the middle of some whopping free speech arguments. In April, it tried to crack down on false or misleading information about the Coronavirus by fact-checking dubious posts. And recently, it has fact-checked dubious claims in Tweets made by President Trump. Mr. Trump has reacted in characteristic fashion. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What exactly did Twitter do in response to Mr. Trump's Tweet about voting by mail?

•What has Mr. Trump vowed to do in response to Twitter's action?

•What is a larger reason why Twitter has acted now, in May 2020?

Coronavirus and the Supreme Court

Most of us are having to work or go to school or play in different ways than we are used to because of the Coronavirus pandemic. But what about the U.S. Supreme Court? Are the justices still reporting to the court's historic chambers to hear oral arguments, or have there been changes? NPR reports.

Questions...

•How is the U.S. Supreme Court currently hearing oral arguments?

•Before the pandemic, did the public get to listen in or view oral arguments to the Supreme Court?

•During this crisis, does the public have more access or less access to Supreme Court arguments?

Advertising and the Coronavirus

Advertising often reflects real-world events. In 2017, Budweiser injected itself into the national debate over immigration by running a Super Bowl ad about how Adolphus Busch, an immigrant from Germany, came to America. Now advertisers are beginning to feature coronavirus in their ads. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What are some examples of ads that were deemed inappropriate when the coronavirus crisis hit?

•What are some examples of "second wave" ads that include the coronavirus crisis?

•How has advertising spending changed since the crisis began?

Hate and the Coronavirus

These are strange, unsettling, relatively unstable times. Children and teens aren't in school, or even at the playground. They're at home in front of a computer, where they can be exposed to extreme ideas. NPR reports about how White supremacist and other hate groups are using the current Covid crisis to present their ideas to young people.

Questions...

•Why are kids and teens "a captive audience"?

•What forms of hate are being presented?

•What can parents (or older brothers or sisters) do?

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?

Living Through These Insane Times

Your Humble Blogger has been on this planet long enough to qualify for the Senior Special at Denny's -- and he has never, ever seen anything like what we are living through right now. With that in mind, today's MediaNote is about Coronavirus. The following is a brief video from the Center for Disease Control giving tips on how you and your loved ones can stay as safe as possible.

Take notes in regard to the following questions. You will take a short quiz on Canvas for attendance points...

•What are the six steps to prevent Covid-19?

•Why is the CDC a good source for information about Covid-19

Coronavirus Update

Glendale College classes (including Mass Comm 101)  will not be held on Monday, March 16 or Tuesday, March 17. Glendale College will move to online classes beginning Wednesday, March 18.

For traditional classes like this one, instruction will be through Canvas and will be synchronous. That means the class will meet online during the hours that it would have met in the classroom.

Most of your teachers (this one included) have never taught a fully online class before. Therefore, the quality of instruction is likely to be rough—at least at first. I’m sure there will be at least one laughable screwup. Hang in there and the instruction will get better.

For now, make sure you have a digital device that allows you to log in to Canvas. Instruction is likely to take place through the ConferZoom tool, so make sure you can get into that.

I am not an information technology specialist or health care professional. But I am a Mass Communications teacher, so I feel comfortable giving you this advice: Quality of information matters!

When you see something about Coronavirus, ask yourself “According to who?” The Glendale College home page (glendale.edu) is a good place to start. Pay attention to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and local authorities such as the Los Angeles County Health Department.

If you read or see news articles about the topic, ask yourself if the publication or channel is reputable. Does it have a political agenda that is so strong that it taints the information being presented? Also, look at who is being quoted or cited in the article? Are they entertainers, commentators or top-level health officials? Quality matters.

If the shrill voices on cable TV or the Internet become too scary, limit your viewing or reading to a few expert, trusted sources. As a college-educated person who has taken at least a few weeks of Mass Comm 101, you are better able to navigate this challenging media environment than many of your relatives. Do what you can to keep them from going down the rabbit hole that leads to denial or panic. Either extreme is unproductive. You may need to be the family member who translates the latest expert information.

In closing, I am proud of you all. You are community college students. You are the workers, the upwardly mobile. In many cases, you are the first in your family to go to college. You have grit.

We’ll get through this.

Mike Eberts

GCC Response to Coronavirus

The multinational outbreak of coronavirus is evolving quickly. Glendale College is monitoring the situation and posting updates. Glendale College encourages everyone to subscribe to Nixle to receive campus related emergency notification text messages. Simply text the words GO GCCALERT to the number 888-777 from your cellphone.