Author Archives: Ralph Hanson

Reflections on Omaha 10/10/10

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

Updates with more links coming I had a great visit Monday to the Omaha 10/10/10 conference held at the University of Nebraska at Omaha this last weekend.  The conference was designed to look at communication technology development in all fields … Continue reading →

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More SCOTUS Westboro Church Case

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

Here’s a quick roundup of several interesting stories on Westboro Church funeral protest case: Protecting funerals and free speech – Ruth Marcus, WP’sPost Partisan Also compares case to that of Falwell and Flynt. Arguments before the court – WP’s story … Continue reading →

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Does What Happens in Philly Stay in Philly?

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

That would be a no.  What happened in Philadelphia? The National Republic Senatorial Committee shot an ad disparaging the West Virginia Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate for being too close to President Obama.  Perfectly acceptable political rhetoric.  What wasn’t … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS – Does Westboro Baptist Church Have Right To Picket Funerals?

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

UPDATE: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to picket funerals. The Supreme Court of the United States is hearing arguments today on the case of Snyder v. Phelps.  Fred Phelps, the leader of a … Continue reading →

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We Were Promised Jetpacks – Day 2

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

Not surprisingly, CNN’s Jeanne Moos had fun with Fox’s mistaken story about the LAPD buying 10,000 jetpacks at $100,000 a pop. She did manage, initially, to miss the fact that Fox corrected the story approximately 40 minutes after it ran. … Continue reading →

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Truth 7 – There is No They Dept. – We were promised jetpacks

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

Except when it’s tragic, it’s funny to see news organizations caught with their pants down when they didn’t bother to check on the truthfulness of stories they report.  The news organizations decide that the story is good enough that it … Continue reading →

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Samples of Newspaper Series

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

My in-depth reporting class is working on a pair series about the funding of K-12 education and higher education.  Here are some samples of great newspaper series from the past (which don’t have anything to do with education funding…) Left … Continue reading →

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30th Anniversary of Janet Cooke’s “Jimmy’s World” Fabrication

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

It was 30 years ago this week that the Washington Post published Janet Cooke’s fantastical “Jimmy’s World. ”  Cooke was hired by the Washington Post to improve its coverage of the African American community. She was a young African American … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

Can a $60 Roku box replace basic cable? Now that it has Hulu Plus for $10 a month?  Maybe. Who is using mobile media devices and how do they feel about advertising on them? iPad users skew younger and male, … Continue reading →

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Apologies, Ramadan & 9/11

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Ralph Hanson

On September 11th, the Portland Press Herald ran a long, thoughtful story on its front page about the local observance of the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. What would normally be considered a relatively non-controversial story became … Continue reading →

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