Who are behind Super PACs? A collaborative class wiki project

(Originally published 11/7/12)

This week my Media History and Institutions class completed a collaborative research project that worked out pretty well. Each student was asked to research one of the largest individual donors to this election cycle's four largest Super PACs, and to report their findings on a collaborative class wiki. Students gathered information about that donor from ProPublica's PAC Track tool, Bloomberg Businessweek's company look-up tool, reputable citations at the bottom of their donor's Wikipedia article, and the power and influence mapping website, Muckety.com. The information they were asked to gather included: the donor's giving levels to Super PACs, their economic/political/ideological motivations, and their connections to other wealthy people and powerful groups. They completed the project in conjunction with a reading on the history of "dark money" in politics and political advertising.

Here are the directions for the project and the collaborative class wiki where students reported their findings. Feel free to borrow what you'd like.

Up with Chris Hayes: Media monopolies thrive as local newspapers fold

(Originally published 10/6/12)

Here is a great three-segment discussion from Up with Chris Hayes about newspapers monopolies and the often powerful corporate interests behind them. Hayes' guest is Harper’s Magazine's David Sirota who recently published two articles on the topic -- “The Citizen Kane era returns” & “The only game in town.”

For media studies instructors, the video could pair well with news media concentration readings, such as Bagdikian’s The New Media Monopoly, Jhally’s The Political Economy of Culture (p. 45 here), Chapter 1 in McChesney’s Political Economy of Media, or C. Edwin Baker’s Media Concentration and Democracy. Could be an especially nice jumping-off point for discussing the relationships between structural trends (e.g., concentration) and instrumental control (e.g., “consciousness industry”).

SEGMENT 1 

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In Media Res looking for curators to critique Olympics media

(Originally published 6/12/12)

In anticipation of the 2012 London Olympic Games, the media and textual criticism site, In Media Res recently listed "The Olympics" among its current calls for curators. This "theme week" of curated Olympics videos/slideshows and critical responses will be published on July 30-June 3.

The call asks for brief proposals (due June 18) that:

. . . address a wide variety of topics relating to the Olympics and its media representations. Topics relevant to the event may include but are not limited to: branding of/at the Olympics; nationalism and spectacle; narrativization of competitors’ or nations’ participation; issues of gender, race, class, or sexuality; globalization and viewership; and/or representations of the Olympics beyond the athletic games.

Americans' hugely distorted wealth perceptions

(Originally published 5/31/12)

Image: ocregister.com

On the David Pakman Show yesterday, David and friends talked about a 2011 study by Michael I. Norton (Harvard) and Dan Ariely (Duke) titled "Building a Better America−−One Wealth Quintile at a Time." I'd read about this study a few months back. The study highlights the wide disparity between (a) how "regular Americans" think the distribution of wealth in the U.S. breaks down, (b) what their ideal distribution would be, and (c) what the actual distribution of wealth really is. As Norton and Ariely explain, they:

ask[ed] a nationally representative online panel to estimate the current distribution of wealth in the United States and to ‘‘build a better America’’ by constructing distributions with their ideal level of inequality. First, respondents dramatically underestimated the current level of wealth inequality. Second, respondents constructed ideal wealth distributions that were far more equitable than even their erroneously low estimates of the actual distribution. Most important from a policy perspective, we observed a surprising level of consensus: All demographic groups—even those not usually associated with wealth redistribution such as Republicans and the wealthy—desired a more equal distribution of wealth than the status quo.

Dan Carlin interviews 3rd (and 4th and 5th) party candidates

(Originally published 5/30/12)

Independent presidential
candidate Buddy Roemer

Some of you may know, I'm a podcast junkie. As my poor fiance will tell you, most of my conversations start with the phrase: "So I was listening to this podcast and..." One of my favorite podcasts is "Common Sense with Dan Carlin" (Note: Dan's "Hardcore History" podcast is my #1). Dan doesn't usually have guests on his show, but as he explained on his show this week:

Carlin: For a long time we've told you that it's kind of a crime that more third party and independent candidates don't get a higher profile and don't get more coverage amongst the media out there so that people could know the options that are available to them besides the big two party members. That kind of compels me, doesn't it, to have some of these people on myself ... certainly I can have some of the major people you're not hearing enough from.

Carlin's conducted three such interviews so far (shows 226, 227, & 228 in the Common Sense archive): one with independent candidate, Buddy Roemer; another with Libertarian Party nominee, Gary Johnson; and most recently with Justice Party candidate, Rocky Anderson...

On The Media looks at why we continue to pay ESPN's live sports 'tax'

(Originally published 5/27/12)

This week's full episode of On the Media (WNYC, New York) is dedicated to "Television's Trying Times," "including how the industry is coping with changing consumer habits, the future of the communal viewing experience, and television on the web." One of the episode's segments looks, specifically, at a topic close to my heart: why television consumers continue to pay so much of our cable and satellite bills for ESPN and other sports networks.

The segment explains that we all pay an $80 annual "tax" to Disney for ESPN -- whether we watch the network or not. While the segment should have pointed out the importance of sports' young male demographic in these networks' high carriage fees (and, subsequently, our cable bills), the segment does do a great job highlighting the value of live sports in these high costs. OTM host Bob Garfield and guest Peter Kafka of All Things Digital explain the dynamic after the jump...

Special issue of Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies examines Penn State tragedy

(Originally published 5/25/12)

The August 2012 issue of Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies is a special issue dedicated to the Penn State tragedy. The issue contains 27 articles from a range of scholarly perspectives, including cultural studies, sociology of sport, education, and critical media studies. Jennifer Proffitt (Florida State) and I contributed an article on "brand logic" in intercollegiate athletics and the detrimental role of that logic in ethical decision-making.

The issue's table of contents is available after the jump, and here is a link to the online articles.

Melissa Harris-Perry on Agenda Setting

(Originally published 3/11/12)

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Teaching with Technology Certificate

(Originally published 10/23/11)

Penn State's College of Communications recently approved my teaching portfolio for a Teaching with Technology Certificate. Check out the Teaching with Technology Certificate Hub for blurbs about recent portfolio submissions (including mine) and for information about putting together your own portfolio. The TWT representative for Penn State's College of Communications is Shannon Kennan.

"Mediating Baseball" and "Sports Scandals" among In Media Res' fall topics

(Originally published 9/25/11)

The innovative media and textual criticism site, In Media Res has listed two sports media topics among its Fall 2011 calls for curators -- "Mediating Baseball" and "Sports Scandals." The "Mediating Baseball" pieces will be published on the week of October 24-28. "Sports Scandals" will be published on November 28-December 2. The deadline for the Baseball call passed this week; however, the proposal deadline for the Scandals call is October 17.

The "Sports Scandals" call asks for brief proposals that:

. . . address the current state of sports that have been involved in a recent scandal, focusing on both the impact the scandal has made on the sport/fanbase and how that scandal has been treated within the sports media. Some recent examples include universities such as Miami and Ohio State allegedly violating NCAA rules; the recent brawl involving members of Louisiana State University’s football team; performance enhancing drugs and sports; gambling and sports; etc.If you're not familiar with the project, In Media Res is a forum where academics, journalists, critics, media professionals, and fans critically engage with media texts in a more immediate format than is common in much of academic publishing. Every day a "curator" offers a media text--usually a video clip or slideshow--accompanied by a short, critical response to that media text. Each week, these curated works focus on a different topic. More information is available on In Media Res'about page.

SportsBusiness Journal: "Sports ad spending roars back"

(Originally published 9/24/11)

Among the top 50 sports advertisers, nearly every corporation spent more on sports advertising in 2010 than in 2009

These figures from SportsBusiness Journal are pretty wild: The top 50 sports advertisers spent $6.6 billion on sports advertising in 2010 -- a 27% increase over 2009. Forty-six of the top 50 sports advertisers spent more on sports advertising in 2010 than they did in 2009. Bank of American, BMW, Procter & Gamble, Nissan, and AT&T Mobility all increased their spending on sports advertising by more than 100%. Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, and (of course) Nike each spent 75+ percent of their 2010 ad budgets on sports advertising.

Wondering why? From another SBJ article:

Live events have become programming gold for TV networks. Last year, 99 of the 100 highest-rated TV telecasts in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic were live, including sports and event shows such as “American Idol” and the Oscars, according to ESPN research . . . 

TV networks are not just attracted to the numbers of people who are watching. They like the kind of people who are watching — the young men advertisers are clamoring to reach. They also embrace the passion that these audiences bring to the telecasts.

Class feedback on 9/11 & Sports Media: Themes

(Originally published 9/12/11)

Image: gawker.com 

I asked my Sports, Media & Society class to share (on our class Facebook page) instances where the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 was referenced in the live sports events they watched over the weekend or in other media they consumed about sports (e.g., news & commentary). Further, I asked them to note how this media content made them think and feel, and how they thought other people would think and feel about the media content. If you were watching this weekend's NFL games or the U.S. Open tennis tournament, you'll know that visuals and commentary related to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 were everywhere.

In lecture today, I offered the class a "quick and dirty" analysis of themes from their responses. After the jump are the five themes I identified from the content they shared and/or their impressions of that media. For each theme, I've included a couple examples of the media content they shared.

COIA/Curley Center survey: Best practices for academic integrity often not used

(Originally published 9/1/11)

This week the Journal of Intercollegiate Sport published two articles by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism--the product of several years of work by Prof. Emeritus, John S. Nichols, Dean Marie Hardin, and myself. The first article, a national survey of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, was produced in collaboration with the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics. The survey received coverage from the Chronicle of Higher Education:

According to a national survey conducted by the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics and researchers at Penn State University, only a minority of faculty governance bodies on campuses with elite sports programs have direct oversight of athlete admissions, scholarships, and advising. And few faculty governance leaders look at the majors and courses that athletes take.

Review of "Sports media: Transformation, integration, consumption" published in Journal of Communication

(Originally published 9/1/11)

The August issue of Journal of Communication includes my review of Andy Billings' new edited volume, Sports media: Transformation, integration, consumption. If you're interested in sports media, this is an excellent collection of theory and research, including chapters from my dissertation advisor, Penn State's Marie Hardin, and my thesis advisor, Florida State's Arthur A. Raney.

Here's a selection from the review outlining the text:

Sports Media’s 12 chapters are composed of papers from a 2010 Broadcast Educators Association symposium by the same title. Six are invited works (mostly essays) from researchers and theorists with considerable contributions to the “mediasport” (Wenner, 1998) research agenda. The subsequent four chapters are empirical and interpretive pieces competitively selected for the symposium. Billings’ introductory and concluding essays bookend the text, with the latter providing reflection on and direction for sports media research. Finally, the text’s appendix is an instant ‘must-have’ research tool for sports media scholars and those seeking to understand the research area: an 18-page, single-spaced bibliography titled, “Contributions to sports media scholarship: A comprehensive reference list.” This appendix illustrates the research agenda’s quantitative volume; the text’s selections highlight its qualitative depth and rigor.

AEJMC 2011 in St. Louis

(Originally Published 8/13/11)

The annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication was held from August 10-13 in St. Louis, MO. Faculty and graduate students from Penn State’s College of Communications presented papers in a range of divisions and interest groups. This was also the first year refereed research has been presented under the banner of the Sports Communication Interest Group--a particularly exciting development for me and others associated with Penn State’s John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. I presented two history papers in "scholar-to-scholar" poster sessions, each of which explored major structural developments for the sports broadcasting industry in the 1960s.

Download Melanie Formentin and my paper or poster presented in AEJMC's History Division, "Made by TV: The American Football League and broadcast networks"

Download my paper or poster presented in AEJMC's Sports Communication Interest Group, “Expressed, Written Consent: The Broadcast Industry and Sports Anti-Trust Legislation, 1953-1961”

Or read a brief description about each paper here...

New Digital News Database from Columbia Journalism Review

(Originally posted 6/30/11)

In perusing for new charts and graphs for my media monopoly resources page, I ran across a great new database from Columbia Journalism Review.

The News Frontier Database is a searchable, living, and ongoing documentation of digital news outlets across the country. Featuring originally reported profiles and extensive data sets on each outlet, the NFDB is a tool for those who study or pursue online journalism, a window into that world for the uninitiated, and, like any journalistic product, a means by which to shed light on an important topic. We plan to build the NFDB into the most comprehensive resource of its kind.

"Campus Press Inc." published in Journalism: Theory, Practice, and Criticism

(Originally posted 6/25/11)
Dr. Jennifer Proffitt (FSU) and I recently had an article on the corporatization of collegiate media published in Journalism: Theory, Practice, and Criticism. You can read the abstract here, or, if you have full text access, the pdf is available here.