From stovepipe hats to Spider-Man: The U.S. presidential inauguration as a media event

Submitted by Matthew Johnson on 15 Jan 2009.

As media outlets continue to close and advertising budgets shrink, the once-mighty Super Bowl is receiving much less buzz than usual. A number of major advertisers, such as Federal Express and troubled automaker General Motors, have decided not to run Super Bowl ads at all this year. Another January event, though, is attracting a surprising amount of media attention: the U.S. presidential inauguration.

Read more
Add a Comment (0 submitted)
Environment, Events, Journalism & News

Watching the elections

Submitted by Matthew Johnson on 30 Sep 2008.

Joe McGinniss’ book The Selling of the President had a shocking title for 1968, suggesting as it did that in the television age the presidency had become nothing more than another product to be packaged and sold. A new MNet resource, Watching the Elections (a lesson for Grade 8 to 12 Social Studies classes), shines a light on how the different aspects of an election – from the debates to political ads to the candidates themselves – are actually media products.

Read more
Add a Comment (2 submitted)
Events, Internet & Mobile, Journalism & News, Marketing & Consumerism, Resources, Television

Covering controversy

Submitted by Matthew Johnson on 18 Jul 2008.

The hottest media story in the past week has been the instantly infamous New Yorker cover portraying Barack Obama and his wife Michelle as terrorists. Though the Obama campaign has been measured in its response, media outlets – and particularly bloggers – have been vocal in their disapproval. Some have suggested that the cover crosses the line from satire into hate speech, while others accuse TheNew Yorker of giving ‘aid and comfort to the enemy’ by visually depicting the smears and misconceptions that have been aimed at the candidate.

Read more
Add a Comment (0 submitted)
Journalism & News, Marketing & Consumerism, Media Production, Stereotyping

The DIY Newsroom

Submitted by Matthew Johnson on 18 Jun 2008.

Note: this is the fifth in a series of blogs looking at the history and future of Web 2.0. The user-participation culture of Web 2.0 has begun to change the worlds of music, movies, animation, games and even encyclopedias, but in no area does the change promise to be as deep and fundamental as in the world of news. While other aspects of user-created content blur the line between authors and audiences, the line remains there: it still takes tremendous skill and effort to make a mashup or a fan movie, even if Web 2.0 has made those things easier to distribute. Some have suggested, though, that it will change journalism in a much more radical way – perhaps altering our idea of what journalism is entirely.

Read more
Add a Comment (0 submitted)
Internet & Mobile, Journalism & News

Pages