HCRHS Media Lit

"It is hard to escape mass media these days. Images and messages bombard us from the Internet, television, magazines, newspapers, radio, bill-boards. Societal messages can come from the government and education sectors, as well as more explicit industries such as beauty, health and fitness. Advertisers have worked hard to create images that make us feel as if we are lacking somehow, so that we want to buy their products. It is not just ideas about looks that we get from society. We also infer how our personalities, talents and achievements "should" be."

A media literacy resource.

"Planning on quitting the social platform? A major new study offers a glimpse of what unplugging might do for your life. "

"We knew we could be champions because the ones we watched on TV looked just like us. And we had already learned that to escape to a better life, we needed to be wearing a jersey. The jersey became a cape; our talents on the field became the superpowers we were recognized for. We were black boys. And to be born a black boy is to be born into athletics. Black fathers are often disappointed if their sons aren't good at sports. Not excelling at sports as a black boy meant not being cool - even weirder, it meant not really being black. When you're growing up as a black boy, it feels like the world tosses you a ball and says, Good luck. Go get 'em, Champ. We all believed we were the chosen ones who could do the impossible, what we saw so many before us fail to do: make it to the National Football League. Eventually, I did. But most of the black boys I spent my afternoons with, playing in imaginary Super Bowls, weren't at the lockers next to mine. Most of the black boys who picture themselves winning this Sunday's game will never play in a real one. And that's fine: Playing in the NFL isn't really - and shouldn't have to be - every black boy's dream. But black boys don't always know that their dreams off the field matter. They need the space to see other, diverse possibilities for themselves. Black boys shouldn't have to feel that being good at sports is the only way to be cool - or to be valued by the world. A jersey isn't the only cape a black boy can wear."

"You may have heard that self-driving cars are safer than cars with human drivers. And that's probably true. Still, as driverless vehicles inch closer and closer to the country's freeways and side streets, we'll probably hear more and more about AI-controlled vehicles getting into deadly accidents. Even a perfect driver can't avoid every accident. So if a self-driving car finds itself in a situation where a deadly accident is inevitable, how should it make a decision to minimize the damage?"

"Public frustration with policing has led to calls nationwide for more cameras worn by officers. But what do those cameras actually reveal? Below, you'll answer questions about three videos of simulated interactions involving police officers."

"A suspended Twitter account appears to have help spread video of a controversial encounter between a group of Catholic school boys and a Native American elder."

"Accounts vary of what happened when students faced an Native American elder in Washington. Steve Inskeep talks to Adam Benforado, author of Unfair who argues camera angles undermine our legal system."

"It started as a viral tweet and video clip and ended in a political firestorm."

"On its 15th anniversary, a look at how the site has changed social life by keeping weak connections on life support forever"

"In a paper published this week in Aging, Horvath and his colleague Ake T. Lu formally announced a project they've been teasing for a couple months now: a "time to death" clock called DNAm GrimAge that they claim can predict, better than any other tool, when a given person might die. It was announced in tandem with AgeAccelGrim, which provides a countdown to the year you'll develop cancer or coronary heart disease. The research has already captured the attention of the life insurance industry. After all, a solid death date could mean real savings when it comes to pricing policies."

"We're talking to fact-checkers and researchers about how they do what they do in an era of disinformation campaigns and news fatigue."

"The majority of the mainstream media is left leaning, as you can see from AllSides' media bias chart and nearly 600 media bias ratings. But in the age of Trump, is the media really left leaning, or do they simply appear left leaning in reaction to him - a president many perceive to be far right?"

"Interviewing an inebriated person at the scene may be more accurate than waiting until he or she is sober "

"President Trump agreed to sign a spending bill to avoid another government shutdown but will declare a national emergency to fund the construction of a wall at the southern border."

"Amazon has canceled plans to build a second headquarters in New York City, following pushback from residents and local lawmakers who were concerned about what the influx of high-skill, high-paying jobs would do to an area that's already facing fast gentrification."

"The Oscar-nominated sound mixer went on to explain the process of creating the live-concert experience on film in front of an audience, all while avoiding having Lady Gaga's exclusive music leak into the world."

"We're ready to flip these themes on their head. In this new era where authenticity reigns supreme, characters with more complexity, dimension, interest, and relatability are what we're all craving."

" Overall, 47% of Americans prefer watching the news rather than reading or listening to it. "

"Writing about her experience on Slate.fr, Ms. Lejeune said that from 2011 to 2013, members of the group left insulting comments on her feminist blog and falsely suggested she had slept with her boss."