Los Angeles Times Struggles with Racial Equity

The Los Angeles Times newsroom is undergoing what one senior reporter calls an "internal uprising" over racial equity issues. Editor Norman Pearlstine admits progress needs to be made. NPR reports.

Questions...

•According to the story, how diverse is the Times' newsroom?

•How does the lack of diversity effect the Times' news coverage?

•What has the editor promised to do in response to this situation?

Operation Infektion

The U.S. certainly has its differences based on gender, race, political preferences and other matters. But is the growing level of anger natural, or is it being encouraged by an outside force? According to some researchers, our internal divisions are being intensified by Russian disinformation experts, and have been doing so since the days of the Soviet Union. PBS News Hour reports.

Questions...

•Why would the Soviet Union and later Russia want to create division, distrust and confusion in the United States?

•What are some of the hoaxes created by the Soviet Union and later Russia? How did they create these hoaxes?

•What makes the U.S. among the nations more vulnerable to this sort of manipulation?

Life as a Game

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

Your little brother says, "I can stop anytime I want," as he plays his online game all night and misses school the next day. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially categorized Gaming Addiction in the International Classification of Diseases. Gaming Addiction has officially been identified as a psychological addiction similar to Compulsive Gambling. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Do you know anyone who might be a video game addict? What do they do that seems so addictive?

•Do smartphones make the problem better, worse, or make no difference?

•What steps would you take to make sure your child is not socially isolated and is engaged with the physical world?

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?

Trump and Biden Online

In six months, the presidential election will be over. Until then, expect and unusually harsh campaign. President Trump and presumptive Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden have very different styles: one is brash and polarizing, the other is genial consensus-builder. It turns out their online campaigns are very different as well. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What is the difference in approaches between the Biden and Tump online campaigns?

•How is the role of mainstream news media different in the two campaigns?

•What is the difference in approach in regard to reaching voters across the political spectrum?

Privacy in Public in Europe?

The following is a MediaNote Classic. This MediaNote was originally presented to MC101 classes in Summer 2018.

In general, Europeans protect their personal privacy a bit more than Americans do. The latest example of this is a European Union law that gives people the right to not have their image posted online if they don't want it posted. This means, for example, that if your sister takes a picture of you in front of the former Berlin Wall and posts it on Facebook, a local person identifiable in the background of the photo can demand that it be removed. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What do you think of this law?

•Should photos have free speech protection? Why or why not?

•Could this law have an impact on photojournalism?

•In the US, people who get photographed in public cannot claim a right to privacy. Journalists are free to photograph things that are newsworthy. People whose likeness is used for profit--your face is on a can of soup, for example--can sue if they have not agreed to have their likeness used. What do you think of this?

•In the example above, how can you deal with the EU citizen who doesn't want to be in your tourist photo?

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?

The Not So Friendly Skies

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

United Airlines used to have an advertising campaign with the tagline "Fly the Friendly Skies." They had to retire that line after the beating of a paying passenger in April 2017. Here is the cell phone video of the incident. NPR discussed the public relations fallout.

Questions...

•How should United Airlines have handled the situation with Dr. Dao? What part of it is the worst for the airline's image?

•Is the United brand name damaged beyond repair? If two flights are nearly the same price and time, would you fly United or avoid it?

•Does it matter from a PR standpoint that passenger cell phone video exists?

•What other public relations disasters can you think of where a company's image was badly damaged?

The Psychology of Selling Cars

The following is a MediaNote Classic. The current version of this MediaNote was first shown to MC101 classes in Spring 2018.

Sut Jhally, a nationally-known expert on the psychological effects of advertising, has said that best ads do not try to sell the product on its merits. Instead, it creates a dream life around the product.

Several years ago, Your Humble Blogger saw the following ad during a Dodger telecast. How much of the ad discusses the merits of the vehicle, and how much of it is a constructed dream life?

More recently, another car ad caught Your Humble Blogger's eye.

Questions...

•What does the ad say about the quality, performance, reliability, cost or resale value of the product?

•Describe the dream life created around the product?

•What role do the visuals play in creating this dream life?

•What role does the music play in creating this dream life?

•Who is the target customer of the product?