Category Archives: Chapter 1

COVID19 Patrol: How the world changed in 2020

It’s difficult now to think back to a time when most of us had not heard of words like coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, community spread, social distancing and self-quarantining. A time before all classes were abruptly moved online. A time before … Continue reading

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2019 in Media – When the chicken sandwich wars go viral

In retrospect, we all should have seen it coming. We should have guessed that one of the biggest social media battles of the year would be a corporate fight over … chicken sandwiches. The Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich empire has long … Continue reading

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Remembering 9/11 – In the movies and on the road

Today is the 18th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. In memory, here are a couple of posts I’ve put up in the past.  The first is a look at cameos the Twin Towers made in numerous Hollywood films: … Continue reading

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Media Twitter: Digital Detox, Fancy Phones, Creepy Speakers, and Facebook 51

Diary of a Digital Detox – What did a media professional learn from his experience?https://t.co/mUE8xMq28M — RalphIsNow@rhanson40@threads.net (@ralphehanson) August 22, 2019 I have my classroom media literacy students do an electronic media cleanse as their first homework each semester. And they … Continue reading

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SECRET 7: There Is No “They”

If you listen to media criticism for long, you will hear a pair of words used over and over again: they and them. It is easy to take potshots at some anonymous bogeymen—they—who embody all evil. I even engaged in … Continue reading

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SECRET 6: Online Media Are Mobile Media

Going online used to mean going someplace where there was a computer plugged into an Ethernet cable, but increasingly, going online now means pulling out your mobile device. And in many parts of the world, the mobile internet is the … Continue reading

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SECRET 5: All Media Are Social

No matter what media you are using—whether it be a legacy newspaper or television station or a social media channel like Facebook—you are always interacting with it at a social level—whether it be face-to-face, with friends on Facebook, or with … Continue reading

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Secret 4: Nothing’s New: Everything That Happened in the Past Will Happen Again

Secret 4 is a little different than the oft-repeated slogan, “Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.” Instead, it says that media face the same issues over and over again as technologies change and new people come … Continue reading

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SECRET 3: Everything From the Margin Moves to the Center

The mass media, both news and entertainment, are frequently accused of trying to put forward an extremist agenda of violence, permissiveness, homosexuality, drug use, edgy fashion, and non-mainstream values. People in the media business, be they entertainers or journalists, respond … Continue reading

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SECRET 2: There Are No Mainstream Media (MSM).

We often hear charges related to perceived sins of the so-called mainstream media. But who exactly are these mainstream media? For some, the MSM are the heavyweights of journalism, especially the television broadcast networks and the major newspapers, such as … Continue reading

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