"The Leader in Documenting, Exposing and Neutralizing Liberal Media Bias"

"We're not doomed. But balanced gender representation is going to take some serious work. "

"Blue chip technology companies grabbed four of the top five spots in the annual ranking of most valuable brands by the consultants at Interbrand."

"Wall Street Journal managing editor Gerard Baker took to a podium last night and warned of the dangers of "native advertising," a big buzzword these days describing the practice of presenting brand-generated content in the style of editorial. "The clear delineation between news and advertising is becoming more and more blurred. We have to resist that," Baker told a crowd at New York University's journalism school"

"One of the key News Literacy concepts is knowing which "News Neighborhood" you are in. But discerning the difference between news and other forms of information - such as advertising - is becoming harder and harder in the Digital Age. Welcome to the brave new media world of "native advertising" and "sponsored content," and the increasingly blurry line of where "editorial" content ends and advertising begins. Here's one recent example."

"We all have magazines at home and at school. They have a high student engagement factor in the classroom and are proving to be a very effective way to teach visual literacy, media literacy, and a host of Common Core standards. It all started for me when NBA basketball player LeBron James adorned the cover of several magazines, published within weeks or months of each other. Using Google's image search function, it was easy to locate and download cover images for the activity I planned with a large group of teachers. I created a one-page handout, which you can find here. (I have since revised this activity, using cover images of actress Jennifer Lawrence.) It seems every week, some celebrity is featured on more than one magazine. So this activity can easily be updated. Here's the trio I chose:"

"In their book, "Blur: How to know what's true in the age of information overload," Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel speak of a news process they call "skeptical knowing." Applying this process, they say, will help journalists and audiences better evaluate information they receive - and pass on. The process involves not only evaluating news but also applying ethical values. This lesson will explore the basics of that process in trying to determine whether facts and sources used lead to reliable, credible and complete storytelling."

"Nichole Pinkard is the founder of the Digital Youth Network, a digital literacy program that works with middle school students both in and out of the classroom. She is also a visiting associate professor at DePaul University in the College of Computing and Digital Media. This post is part of a series of conversations with thought leaders on digital media and learning, then and now. In conversation with journalist Heather Chaplin, leaders reflect on how the field of digital media and learning has changed over time, and where it's headed."

"An educational film, entitled It's a Look, meant to highlight how carefully constructed - and not real - fashion images are. It's a Look comes with an accompanying lesson plan, and it's targeted at high school girls aged 15-16. Says Shulman, "I decided it might be helpful to show what goes into the creation of a Vogue fashion picture, as a way of illustrating the skill and artifice that makes the final product." This endeavor is a result of the magazine's recent Health Initiative, a pact between the 19 international editors of Vogue to encourage a healthier approach to body image."

"A feminist parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" - a song that has been accused of blurring the lines between consensual sex and rape - was briefly removed from YouTube yesterday, leaving its creators mystified. "Defined Lines", created by a bunch of University of Auckland law students, features three fully dressed women responding to the attentions of scantily clad men as they sing about sexism. The video, which has been watched more than 450,000 times since it was posted three days ago, was removed from YouTube yesterday having been flagged by users as containing "inappropriate content", but has now been restored."

"The media are biased. Fox News, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal -- they're all biased. They're biased in different ways, in varying degrees, and for various reasons. They're also, at times, voyeuristic, unprofessional, vapid, and incorrect. And all of this begs the question: how can one consume news without walking away either wrong or disenchanted?" What can we do?

"If people don't think critically about techniques advertisers, politicians and others use to influence us, then they will be easily fooled and manipulated, says media literacy educator FRANK BAKER in an interview with P KUMAR."

"After all, the logic goes, millions of Americans see violent imagery in films and on TV every day, but vanishingly few become killers. But a growing body of research indicates that this reasoning may be off base. Exposure to violent imagery does not preordain violence, but it is a risk factor. We would never say: "I've smoked cigarettes for a long time, and I don't have lung cancer. Therefore there's no link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer." So why use such flawed reasoning when it comes to media violence?"

"How young is too young to talk about sexism? Because according to my just-turned-3-year-old, mommies aren't strong-daddies are. Her certainty of this hit me square in the gut; it didn't help that immediately after she declared she didn't want to be a mommy because "they have to go to doctor's appointments and go shopping." Oof."

"Yesterday, two events relating to institutional racism coincided and competed for headlines.  A federal judge ruled New York City's infamous stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional because it amounted to racial profiling by targeting African-Americans and Latinos. And US Attorney General Eric Holder announced an end-run around "draconian" Congressional drug laws by ordering the Justice Department to discontinue aggressive pursuit of low-level, non-violent drug offenders."

"As an avid watcher of Lifetime ("Drop Dead Diva" what what?), I see a lot of commercials for women. And, you know, it really annoys me how patronizing ads meant "for the ladies" are. If you don't believe me, take a look at this hilarious parody."

"As today's students become ever more involved in using technology as a resource for daily life, it is crucial that we develop students' critical thinking skills to help them decipher the barrage of information available to them and use this information in their"

"The dark side of materialism as a tonic is that shopping bags aren't a great replacement for friendships. Loneliness can make us materialistic. Feeling isolated makes us anxious, which makes us less likely to get up the energy to make and maintain connections that would make us feel less alone. So, in the hunt for immediate pleasure, some people turn to shopping. But medicating our loneliness at the mall can make us lonelier, over time, as shoppers begin to learn that it is challenging to form a meaningful relationship with a wristwatch or brag about one's children to a porcelain vase."

"Reddit is the self-proclaimed front page of the Internet -- a community of people who submit links and vote them up or down based on their quality, novelty or general ability to generate amusement."