Blogs

This week on Media Minutes:

"Data mining on social networks is much more pervasive and secretive than most users know. Long-time media activists Jeff Chester and Kathryn Montgomery share their concerns about online marketing and surveillance."

Download the MP3.

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Anti-Pop Strip Down: Kelly Joe Phelps’ Tune-smith Retrofit
Hear more at Kelly Joe Phelps.

I was halfway through my third listen of Kelly Joe Phelps’ newest musical project when it hit me.

The guy doesn’t have a single repeated chorus or “hooky” moment on the entire CD.

We recently came across a blog entry decrying a new game invented by ChampagneforLadies. In it girls are invited to “Lie, bitch, flirt your way to the top of the high school ladder” in order to “Become the Coolest Girl in School.” The inventors say, perhaps tongue in cheek that Coolest Girl in School is Grand Theft Auto for girls. Now the blogger made some good points, for example, how are 10 year old girls going to get the satire? And how is this different from other video games like Grand Theft Auto?

Counting is so simple, so basic, so important. We counted the numbers of boys and girls on sugary cereal boxes, on the covers of board games, in the action section of toy aisles, in Newbury Award winning books, and we reported studies that counted the number of boys and girls in G-rated films, and other forms of media. This was our way of showing where the girls aren't, sure, but more importantly we did this because numbers give a clear and present message to girls (and boys) about who should be doing, wearing, listening to, reading, and playing with what.

Frontier Fracas: No Country For Old Men

“The West is the best.” – Jim Morrison

Or not.

What might you get when you cross a novel penned by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Cormac McCarthy (The Road, All the Pretty Horses) with the vision of directorial duo the Coen Brothers (“Blood Simple” and “Fargo”)?

Following on the release of their 2005 "Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use," the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law at American University teamed up with Temple University's Media Education Lab to present a new report this fall on "Colin Rhinesmith's blog  •    •  Read more

Jim Metrock, the Birmingham, Ala.-based businessman who has waged a seven-year campaign to undercut advertiser support for Channel One, says on his webblog that the company now appears to be deleting ads from its own website. Also, he says the in-school , ad supported satellite network seen daily in classrooms by at least seven million U.S. teen-agers appears to have lost its president. Here's a link:
http://www.obligation.org/article.php?recordID=871

Remember summer 2003, friends?

When the FCC issued its June 2, 2003 decision that would have made it possible for one media corporation to own as many as 8 radio stations, 3 TV stations, the cable franchise, and the daily newspaper all in one "market"?

Guess what? They're back. Or rather, the idea is back.

See this - USA TODAY article.

FCC urged to go slow on media ownership overhaul

By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY