Author Archives: Ralph Hanson

Watching the Inauguration

In my book, Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, I present “The seven truths ‘they’ don’t want you to know about the media.” These are essentially the seven thesis statements of the book, but that sounds so boring, so … Continue reading

Posted in Chapter 1 | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Watching the Inauguration

Glee covers Jonathan Coulton’s version of Baby Got Back without any credit to him

About seven years ago, singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton recorded a brilliant acoustic version of Sir Mix A Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” turning the rap into a sweet ballad. Take a listen: Lots of fun, and a very distinctive cover.  No way … Continue reading

Posted in Chapter 7 | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Glee covers Jonathan Coulton’s version of Baby Got Back without any credit to him

If your mother says she loves you, check it out…

Updated 1/18/13 I was sitting in the dental chair yesterday afternoon, waiting for the dentist to come fix my chipped tooth when I came across a tweet pointing me to the Deadspin story about Manti Te’O’s fake/made up/fraudulent (choose your … Continue reading

Posted in Chapter 14 | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on If your mother says she loves you, check it out…

Media in our Lives

On Monday, I asked my students in my 9 a.m. Global Media Literacy what media they had used since midnight.  Here’s what they had done during the first 9 hours of the day (during which they presumably slept a little…).  … Continue reading

Posted in Chapter 1 | Tagged , | Comments Off on Media in our Lives

Link Ch. 13 – The Hazelwood Decision’s 25th Anniversary

Twenty-five years ago, the United States Supreme Court  ruled that a high school principal in Hazelwood, Missouri, had the right to censor articles in the student newspaper about pregnancy and divorce.  The court, in its ruling, wrote: The First Amendment … Continue reading

Posted in Book Link, Chapter 13 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Link Ch. 13 – The Hazelwood Decision’s 25th Anniversary

What is Gangnam Style? And how did it turn Klingon?

Last fall our friend Charley Reed gave us an in-depth analysis of the insanely popular Korean video Gangnam Style.  Me?  I added in the wonderful parody video of Klingon Style!  We talked about it in class today, so if you … Continue reading

Posted in Chapter 2, Chapter 7 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on What is Gangnam Style? And how did it turn Klingon?

George Carlin and Movie Trailers

In my Global Media Literacy class I’ve been showing and talking about several videos I’ve had around for some time. Thought I would share them with you this morning. We’ve been talking about how movie trailers can set an emotional … Continue reading

Posted in Chapter 1, Chapter 8 | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Blogs From My Commentary Class

As I mentioned the other day, I’m teaching commentary and blogging this semester, and I’ve got an interesting group of students who will be commenting on just about everything over the semester.  Here are their blogs! Eric Nelson – nelsonej2’s … Continue reading

Posted in JMC 406 | Tagged , | Comments Off on Blogs From My Commentary Class

25 Years of Opinion

Twenty-five years ago this week I started teaching college at Northern Arizona University.  Among the classes I taught that semester was Opinion Writing. Today, I’ll be starting in on a fresh section of that class, only now it’s called Commentary … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on 25 Years of Opinion

Would You Run This Photo?

The Washington Post ran this photo on the front page of its sports section this morning of Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III injuring his knee during Sunday’s playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. A long-time friend of mine (and … Continue reading

Posted in Chapter 14 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment