The Most E-Mailed Stories

Examine the lists of the 10 Most E-Mailed Stories and The 10 Most Viewed Stories on the home page of the online version of the New York Times Web site for  Tuesday, Feb. 10. When you consider them as a whole, do any consistent themes or preoccupations (on the part of journalists or readers or both) emerge? What do the lists suggest is the primary function or functions of the press in America today (informing, entertaining, rumor-mongering, counseling, editorializing, marketing, etc.)?  How would Postman explain the kind of stories that  predominate the lists? Your response is due -- remember, no late or inadequate responses are given credit -- by  Wednesday, Feb. 11, 4 p.m.


 For further provocation, click on links below:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/the-six-things-that-make-stories-go-viral-will-amaze-and-maybe-infuriate-you.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/public-editor/just-the-facts-maam-no-more.html?hpw&rref=opinion

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/25/1039957/-STUNNING-Comparing-U-S-World-Covers-for-TIME-Magazine

Final blog post

Summarize the focus of your essay on GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. Why is this subject interesting or important to you?

Your response is due before midnight Sunday.

Mighter Than the Sword #2

Please post a response to the following question by midnight this coming Wednesday.

After reading the first article below, describe how Smythe's analysis of the causes of press sensationalism differs from Streitmatter's in MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD. Also, read the second article and be prepared to discuss whether the conditions described there are analogous to those described by Smythe and must inevitably contribute to the same consequences. (I may give a quiz if I'm not satisfied that people have done the reading.)


http://www.uiowa.edu/~c019091s/Reporter.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/business/media/risks-abound-as-reporters-play-in-traffic.html?emc=eta1

Mightier Than the Sword

Please read for Thursday's class:



http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/3552133?n=267&s=4&printThumbnails=no

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/technology/technologys-man-problem.html?hpw&rref=technology


http://www.npr.org/2014/03/17/290860516/media-startups-short-on-diversity?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=storyshare

Mightier

http://www.uiowa.edu/~c019091s/Reporter.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/business/media/risks-abound-as-reporters-play-in-traffic.html?emc=eta1



http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20131101%2FBIZ%2F131109976

Lanier #2

Discuss how the developments described in the article linked below might be viewed by Lanier (positive? negative? invasive? neutral?), given what he writes in Who Owns the Future? Your response is due before midnight, Sunday, March 30.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/automobiles/to-change-tunes-a-nod-will-be-as-good-as-awink.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

Lanier #1

Below please find a link to article on privacy. Would Lanier agree with the author's perspective? Do they have the same explanation for the crisis in privacy? Do you agree with either or both?

Your response is due before midnight, Sunday, March 23.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/opinion/has-privacy-become-a-luxury-good.html?
emc=eta1&_r=0

Also of interest:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/03/03/285334820/if-theres-privacy-in-the-digital-age-it-has-a-new-definition?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=storyshare