Geoffrey Baym, Amber Day, Nicholas Marx, Chuck Tryon and Dannagal Young discuss Stephen Colbert's first week in the new job.
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Politics
Fall Premieres 2015: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
“Aren’t We Such a Fun, Approachable Dynasty?”: Clinton’s Presidential Announcement, Cable News, and the Candidate Challenge
Chuck Tryon examines the reception of Clinton’s announcement video to explore the role of cable news in producing election coverage that sidesteps questions about how candidates will actually govern.
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What to Make of the Historic Net Neutrality Win
The FCC’s new Open Internet rules are a major come-from-behind victory for net neutrality. How in the world did this actually get done? And what exactly happens now?
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Selma, “Bloody Sunday,” and the Most Important TV Newsfilm of the 20th Century
The most consequential TV newsfilm of the 20th century records the beating of voting rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. It led directly to the passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act. With the 50th anniversary commemorations of “Bloody Sunday,” network and cable news channels...
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“Hope” for Net Neutrality?
President Obama’s statement calling on the FCC to implement the strongest possible net neutrality regulations is significant for many reasons, including what it signals about citizen engagement in communications regulation and the politics of media policy.
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Redefining “Public” Education: Reflections from GeekGirlCon, Seattle, October 11-12
We have been to three girl-focused cons this summer and fall: LeakyCon, DashCon and GeekGirlCon. These cons are non-profit, largely run by volunteers, and provide alternative geeky spaces to male-dominated cons. These cons extend the work of social media such as Tumbr by providing safe public spaces where feminist, feminine, and queer young people can...
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Popular Culture and Politics: The Hunger Games 3-Finger Salute in Thai Protests
Thai protesters' appropriation of the three-finger salute articulates the relationship between popular culture and politics and places the protests within a history of fan-based civic engagement.
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Net Neutrality is Over— Unless You Want It
A federal appeals court just ended net neutrality because the FCC didn't call it what it is: common carriage.
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Fordian Slip: On the Mayor Rob Ford Scandal
The underlying discourse of the interview is that media scrutiny and critique is the modus operandi of liberal/leftist/elitists. But who, exactly, are the elitists?
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On Leaving the Game Early
Miami Heat fans' early exit from game six of the NBA Finals is the latest flashpoint in mediated discussions of Florida this year.
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What Are You Missing? Apr 28 – May 11
Ten (or more) media industry news items you might have missed recently.
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Letterman’s “Stooge of the Night” and Late Night Politics
Within the context of network late night television, David Letterman's shaming of senators opposed to gun control is startlingly bold.
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WWE vs. Glenn Beck: Potshots to Publicity, Controversy to Cash
While the issue is ostensibly about the negative portrayal of the Tea Party, Glenn Beck and WWE have taken advantage of the situation for publicity.
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Current TV, Al Jazeera America, and the Experience of the Foreign
The sale of U.S. cable station Current TV to the Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera raises questions about how a foreign network might explain Americans to themselves. Might Al Jazeera provide a foreign lens for Americans to examine themselves? What would that even look like?
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“Depiction is not Endorsement”: Representing Torture in Zero Dark Thirty
Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty has ignited a virtual powder keg of controversy regarding its depictions of the use of torture as a means of getting information during the ten-year hunt for Osama bin Laden. Despite complaints that it justifies the use and effectiveness of torture, the film cannot be dismissed so easily.
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