Monday, January 25, 2010

The Politics of Talk

So this week a media experiment officially failed. Air America, a liberal-oriented national talk radio station, filed for bankruptcy and went off-air. This is especially interesting in a time when liberals control the White House as well as Congress. Some of the most profitable talk radio shows (Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity) are conservative oriented. So here's my question to you. Why do you think conservative based shows are more successful than liberal based shows? I don't necessarily want you to discuss why one political ideology is better than the other. I want you to frame your discussion in terms of media success. If another liberal based talk show were to emerge what do you think it would have to do to be as successful as a Limbaugh or O'Reilly show?

Also, please sign the blog with your full name if it is different than your user id. I can't tell who a person is sometimes when their user id doesn't match my role. For example, someone named Hartman posted last week but i'm not sure who to award the points to.

Monday, January 18, 2010

One Hell of a Week

There are a lot of stories to talk about this week. A lot is going on in the news. Some of it seems humorous such as the Leno-Conan-NBC debacle. But the biggest story is definitely the insufferable Hell that the victims of Haiti have been put through. I hope you've seen some of the coverage. If not, I wish you would. It takes really big events to change how news is covered. The first war in Iraq gave us constant access to the front lines of a War in real time. Katrina gave us real time constant coverage of our own national disaster. I'm left wondering what Haiti will do to news coverage. One thing i've noticed is that the actual journalists are actively engaging with the disaster. Katie Couric held a child while his broken leg was being reset. Both of his parents were killed in the earthquake. She has vowed to do whatever's necessary to care for the boy. CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta worked at a field hospital while reporting and was later called to perform a brain surgery. Anderson Cooper rescued a boy who had been injured in a looting. The newest form of philanthropy evolved when record amounts of money were raised for Haiti simply by people texting the red cross to donate via their cell phone bill. I'm not even sure what to ask but i know that Haiti is THE STORY. Perhaps the biggest story we've had since Katrina. I think i'm a bit biased however. I am a former journalist, who now teaches media studies, so i have an interest in paying attention to this stuff. What about yourself? Have you been watching the coverage? What has interested you? What have you liked or disliked about the story? What are some of the high points and some of the low points? Now that we are a week into this story, do you think interest has lessened? Are journalists becoming too active in their stories? What will you remember?

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Welcome to the Semester

So here's the first blog of the new semester. Let's get started by finding out everyone's general view of the media. So answer the following questions for me.
1. What is your favorite news source? Newspaper, television, radio, online?
2. What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of each of the aforementioned news sources?
3. What do you think about bias in the media? Do you notice it, what do you notice, and who do you believe is the most biased?

Here's to hoping we have a productive and informative semester.