Media & Culture @ HM

this article gives us a lot of information on media literacy. it is divided into 4 parts the definition of media literacy, building on experience, the current landscape, and toward a media literacy movement. in the first part of the article it focuses on the idea of media literacy being different for everyone and that people of all ages use media literacy to understand media for all different reasons. but it does summarize that almost all use it and it is useful for all. as for the second part, it talks about how media literacy is a challenge in the United States of America but there is always some kind of new device or way to spread media literacy and make it more common in the USA. the second part also talks about how media literacy is spread/used in Germany and Canada and how its starting to be used and spread in the USA. part three talks about the challenges that the spread of media literacy has, not allowing it to spread as much as it should. in addition it takes these problems and states some opportunities that come out of them for the spread of media literacy. the fourth and final section of this article talks about the future and what people need to do if media literacy is going to be spread. after stating the needs that media literacy has in order to spread it then supplies the approaches that one/a nation should take in order to overcome these problems. overall this article attacks the problems that media literacy is facing that prevents its expansion but not only does it do that it also gives us many many many ways in which we can approach these problems a fix them, making media literacy a national and one day global ability.

Obesity as many of us know, is a growing problem in the United States. It is extremely prevalent among the younger generation, as kids are more susceptible to advertisements on television and on the Internet. As this article states, children have a great influence over the food their parents buy. To put it bluntly, children can be annoying. They can scream and yell, essentially embarrassing you into buying them whatever they want. Years ago, discipline amongst parents was much stricter and a child who mouthed off would be subject to corporal punishment. However, society has greatly evolved, and in many families, the power balance among children and adults has shifted. Fast food advertisers are aware of this and take full advantage by placing commercials during popular television networks like Disney channel and Nickelodeon. Also, as the Internet has become more popular amongst young adults, advertisements for sugary snacks and greasy fried food have also increased. Obesity will continue to be a big issue in the United States but we can no longer only place the blame on the lack of options in supermarkets or parents themselves but rather advertisements in media that are negatively influencing children causing them to make bad decisions.

"In some ways, this marketing push has been happening for years: Companies hawking a variety of goods, from diamonds to digital cameras, have been eager to get parent bloggers to write posts that tout their products. But recently, these bloggers say, food companies have upped the ante, bombarding them with free trips to corporate kitchens and mountains of edible swag."

Cable TV operator Comcast Corp. is expected to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal, perhaps as early as this week

"Young people may seem like social media mavens, and employers may expect them to be, but students need to learn how to exploit digital tools "

In a piece reminiscent of classic "60 Minutes," USC journalism student Matt Schrader exposes the dirty side of parking enforcement and street cleaning in downtown Los Angeles. Schrader found that while parking enforcement is out in droves ticketing cars, and mostly on street cleaning days (making the city $15,000 an hour!), the streets they're patrolling aren't even being cleaned. The best line of the piece is from a guy who got ticketed on one of those streets: "They have the manpower to ticket you, but they don't have the manpower to actually do the job."

In a piece reminiscent of classic "60 Minutes," USC journalism student Matt Schrader exposes the dirty side of parking enforcement and street cleaning in downtown Los Angeles. Schrader found that while parking enforcement is out in droves ticketing cars, and mostly on street cleaning days (making the city $15,000 an hour!), the streets they're patrolling aren't even being cleaned. The best line of the piece is from a guy who got ticketed on one of those streets: "They have the manpower to ticket you, but they don't have the manpower to actually do the job."

An investigation into the City of Los Angeles's street cleaning double standard: failure to sweep streets on the designated days but strict enforcement of cars parked along them. The research revealed widespread governmental miscommunication - allowing the City to rake in millions of dollars every month - and oftentimes from batch, "sweeping" ticketings along streets that were never swept.

Interesting graphical representation of Left vs. Right outlook, philosophy, culture, etc.

Should the FTC make sure there is truth in Advertising on the Web, especially in Blogs and Tweets?

Should the FTC make sure there is truth in Advertising on the Web, especially in Blogs and Tweets?

"The Kindle's challenge to reach 100 million sales may not have to do with price primarily. It will probably have more to do with people's media consumption habits."

This movie goes in depth more than "SuperSize Me" about the media and advertising.

A logo adopted by food company giants is showing up in major supermarkets

A logo adopted by food company giants is showing up in major supermarkets

This commercial uses two terms from the language of persuasion. It uses simple solutions by saying just with this one product your hair will instantly go from laying flat to looking fabulous. The commercial tries to make it sound so easy that anyone can use this product. These commercial also uses bribery, by throwing in extras for "free".

Imagine if the media covered this in reality. Do video games actually prepare teenagers for real life?

a digital archive of vintage television commercials dating from the 1950s to the 1980s. Eventually, this collection will feature close to 12,000 digitized commercials

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.

In two years of global warfare, America had yet to see almost any pictures of dead Americans.

Updated "Did You Know" video, Fall 2009.