"Donald Trump is a media virus, in the truest sense of the term. I should know. I'm the guy who came up with the notion of a "viral media" back in 1994 when I coined the term for my book Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture. Back then, I was using the expression less as a metaphor than as functional description for the way ideas could spread in our newly interactive mediaspace, which suddenly included fax machines, camcorders, cable TV, email, and a budding World Wide Web. The message in our media come to us packaged as Trojan horses. They enter our homes in one form, but behave in a very different way than we expect once they are inside. This is not so much a conspiracy against the viewing public as it is a method for getting the mainstream media to unwittingly promote countercultural agendas that can actually empower the individuals who are exposed to them. One of the first examples: A black man gets beaten by white cops in 1991 Los Angeles. The event is captured on a camcorder, and the infamous "Rodney King tape" spreads across the world via cable news, overnight."

"Buying more stuff is associated with depression, anxiety and broken relationships. It is socially destructive and self-destructive"

"In order to deconstruct the image, let's focus on three key elements (leaving aside the placement of the 'M' in 'Time' that makes it look like Trump has red horns): the color, the pose, and the chair:"

"Will Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was my first American friend. Ours was an unlikely friendship: a shy Indian kid, fresh off the boat, with big glasses and a thick accent, and a high school b-ball player from West Philadelphia, chillin' out maxin' and relaxin' all cool. And yet, I was with Will all the way, unnerved when he accidentally gave Carlton speed, shaken when he got shot in Season 5, and deeply embarrassed every time he wiped out in front of Veronica. Psychologists say it's not uncommon to think of fictional characters as your friends. They call these attachments parasocial relationships, and a growing body of research suggests there may be more to these connections than we realize. It turns out that as we grow emotionally attached to characters who are part of a minority group, our prejudices tend to recede."

"An introductory assignment may ask students to think about representations of different social groups in the fictional TV shows, films and books that have shaped their lives. For example, at the beginning of the semester, I will give students an assignment titled "The Stories in Your Life" with the following list, and ask them to think of characters from these social groups that are represented in their favorite stories (this list of groups corresponds with the chapters in the textbook Diversity in U.S. Mass Media): African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, teenagers, elderly people, people with disabilities, wealthy people, impoverished people, LGBTQ, and women. When we come together as a class and discuss their lists, the students have typically made some startling yet obvious discoveries: there may be no characters in a certain group, or the characters might be one-dimensional stereotypes. They quickly have those lightbulb moments that will open their minds to deeper discussions about underrepresentation and misrepresentation in entertainment media. They often realize that more often than not, the stories in their lives ask them to identify with white males. This introductory step in media literacy education gives students the reflective and analytical tools to examine what media tells them about themselves and others."

" Postman's early books were mostly about education; he was critical of the shallow and unchanging nature of public education, back then. He went on to write a handful of other books and articles, after "Amusing," a series of warnings on how technology was steamrolling concepts we once revered as pillars of democracy: Critical thought. Civil discourse. Public institutions. Democratic equality in education. Thoughtful, incremental change. Respect for history. Postman died in 2003, just as NCLB and the technocratic accountability movement were rolling across the country, denigrating teachers' hard-won judgment and experience in favor of standardized data. Consider:"

"Social media stars are earning big money for pitching products in short, often silly, postings seen by millions of followers. Bill Whitaker reports on this new trend in advertising"

"Fact is, there really is no such thing as "the media." It's an invention, a tool, an all-purpose smear by people who can't be bothered to make distinctions. Consider: There are hundreds of broadcast and cable TV networks, a thousand or so local TV stations, a few thousand magazines and newspapers, several thousand radio stations and roughly a gazillion websites, blogs, newsletters and podcasts. There's also Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and who knows what new digital thing. All of these, collectively, now constitute the media."

"Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt takes audiences on a satirically comedic, yet illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin.  Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on a secretive group of highly charismatic, silver-tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities - yet have the contrary aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change."

"Hobert's dreams include starting a lifestyle brand, but he wants to build his credibility first. A few years ago, his instinct may have been to start a blog. But Hobert says he loves to talk and was never the best writer, so a different medium has more appeal: a personal podcast. With his Purpose in the Youth podcast, he hopes to tell the stories of people who have found what they are passionate about. He was preparing to launch the first episode this week. The timing couldn't be better for new grads like Hobert to get in on the podcast craze. Twenty-one percent of Americans age 12 or older say they have listened to a podcast in the past month. That's a 17 percent increase in the last year and a 75 percent increase since 2013."

"Bad news for shoppers who rely on web reviews: New research has demolished the illusion that star ratings realistically reflect product quality. "Average user ratings are only slightly better than a coin toss" in helping you make a decision, says Bart de Langhe, who teaches marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His analysis of 1,272 products on Amazon found a "very low correlation" between ratings and quality. One reason for the disconnect: Fake user reviews. To crack down, Amazon has initiated three lawsuits over the past 15 months, most recently targeting companies that sell positive reviews to vendors. Both Amazon and Yelp also say they use algorithms to filter out suspicious posts-although some still slip through, says Boston University's Georgios Zervas, who has studied Yelp user reviews. He estimates that about one in four submitted reviews are fakes. To avoid getting duped, experts suggest a skeptical approach."

"Tell me, what do these two memes at right have in common? Answer: Both are false. Someone somewhere sat down at a computer, pulled up photo of Hillary Clinton, and concocted an overt lie. The same is true with regard to whoever falsely attributed the above statement about Republican stupidity to Donald Trump. I've seen both of these memes make a few appearances on my Facebook feed this election season. At times I wonder about the mindset of those who purposefully craft lies. Perhaps they are nihilists. Perhaps they are rigid ideologues bent on winning the war of ideas by defaming the other side at all costs. Who cares about the truth? Right? Wrong. Truth matters. Truth is not the property of any individual. It is the property of us all, worthy of our ardent protection."

"In order to visually elucidate that point, Oxfam International created a comprehensive infographic that reveals the extensive reach of the "Big 10" food and beverage companies. Unlikely ties between brands we largely don't associate with one another show how easy it is to be misinformed about the American food system. F"

"Gold and Phillip offered their insights on examples of rumors and misinformation in the 2016 campaign, discussed the competing issues and agendas they must navigate in their reporting, and chatted with students and educators about the active role young people can play as consumers and creators of news and information about political issues. The hangout was part of a special series on "Building News Literacy, Critical Media Skills, and Political Awareness Today" produced in connection to Letters to the Next President 2.0.  NLP NEWS Check out the News Literacy Project's latest developments. "

"From Baton Rouge to Minneapolis to Dallas, it has been a fraught week in the United States. Tonight, University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor Sut Jhally is speaking at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts about race relationships in America. Jhally is the founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation. He is best known for producing and directing films on politics, violence and social issues. Jhally spoke with WAMC about how he thinks the election of Barack Obama affected racial identity in the United States. The lecture is titled "The Crisis of Whiteness in the Age of the Black Presidency." It is free and open to the public."

"TV may have been about global unity, but the Internet inspires the opposite."

Research on how technology may be changing the way we think

"Ladies, as everyone knows, are dainty and fragile, and prefer the world to be awash in pastels. Or at least, that's the philosophy behind the old marketing mantra for making products attractive to women: "Shrink it and pink it." It's hard to imagine this phrase being uttered in a boardroom in this era. And yet, every so often still, a new product emerges doused in shades of magenta and labeled "for her": Dell's cutesy laptop Della, which promised nifty ways to search for recipes and count calories. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' website for women who like football, filled with game-day style tips, manicure ideas, and, of course, more recipes. Bic's pink and purple pens "for her." ("I know you're thinking, 'It's about damn time!' " Ellen DeGeneres snarked. "Can you believe this? We've been using man pens all this time!")"