| Television Watching: How Much Is Too Much?
As the Virginia Tech story broke last Monday, cable news, as always, took the lead with their normal oversaturated speculative coverage transferring the energy and resources normally reserved for non-story stories like the Anna Nicole Smith saga into covering a real story. Some observers complained that the broadcast networks didn't go with wall to wall coverage of the story. It is good that they did not last Monday afternoon, since all it does is create the chance for things to get on air that are speculative and gives talking heads a chance to talk – all of which could be seen on the cable news channels. By the time the evening rolled around, reporters, both local, national and international had converged on Blacksburg like a pack of vultures and the networks did have some special reports.
Popular culture conference
Dr. Marty Knepper, professor and chair of English at Morningside College; Stacy Baldus, a senior from Grand Meadow, Minn.; and Rachel N. Castillo, a senior from Sioux City, all presented papers at the national conference of the Popular Culture Association (PCA)/American Culture Association, April 4-7, in Boston." target="_blank"> | Small | Large
Dr. Marty Knepper, professor and chair of English at Morningside College; Stacy Baldus, a senior from Grand Meadow, Minn.; and Rachel N. Castillo, a senior from Sioux City, all presented papers at the national conference of the Popular Culture Association (PCA)/American Culture Association, April 4-7, in Boston.Knepper was chair of the session ''Mystery/Detective Fiction III: Debating the Ending of the Harry Potter Series.'' During the session, Knepper presented ''Reading Harry Potter: Making Predictions for Book 7,'' which included results of surveys conducted with readers, monitored internet chat rooms, and fan fiction as a means to discover predictions for the final book of J.
Television Watching: How Much Is Too Much?
As the Virginia Tech story broke last Monday, cable news, as always, took the lead with their normal oversaturated speculative coverage transferring the energy and resources normally reserved for non-story stories like the Anna Nicole Smith saga into covering a real story. Some observers complained that the broadcast networks didn't go with wall to wall coverage of the story. It is good that they did not last Monday afternoon, since all it does is create the chance for things to get on air that are speculative and gives talking heads a chance to talk – all of which could be seen on the cable news channels. By the time the evening rolled around, reporters, both local, national and international had converged on Blacksburg like a pack of vultures and the networks did have some special reports.
CT Classic Winning Isn't Everything
In the White House, the moral forces are strikingly friendly to most theological conservatives. As for the Supreme Court, hope flows like a freshet in anticipation of a new majority that will change the onerous Roe v. Wade decision. Nativity scenes on public property are, officially, no longer a sinister threat to the Constitution, and high school students may now study the Bible in classrooms after school. Prominent televangelists are emboldened as never before to speak up on public affairs. They are generating high voltage awareness about public issues among their mass congregants, and because of that they are becoming a potent force on the political power spectrum. Clearly, conservative moral forces are having more influence in the councils of government than in a generation. Why is this so? Those who closely follow the changing "power curve" point to several influences: a general conservative swing in the United States; religious radio and television personalities who have captured huge audiences (this giving them unprecedented publicity in the national news media); and evangelical lawyers who have used the courts intelligently to advance the cause of religious freedom.
Shakespeare in Imus' corner
Curious about what William Shakespeare might have thought about the national furor that ensued when radio DJ Don Imus referred to players on Rutgers basketball team as "nappy headed hos"? Certainly, he would have been edified that an entire country was paying close attention to language. But he also may have accepted Imus' plea that he didn't really mean what he said, for The Bard's words show he was acutely aware of how arbitrary and mutable the language can be: "Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart." Shakespeare's view is one held by many modern linguists, namely, that Imus may be faulted for bad taste, and, perhaps for lack of originality; but no self-respecting court of modern linguistic theory would find him guilty of malicious intent.
|
