… you recognize the names of pop culture celebrities because they appear frequently in news headlines and accompanying photos (names such as Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban, Amanda Bynes, Taylor Hicks) and you not only do not know what they are famous for (Are they singers? reality show stars? actors? people whose naked photos have appeared on the internet?) but you don’t care enough to read the story or click on the link to find out.
Yep, I’m an old geezer and proud of it. Hey, when’s Matlock on?
I rarely read online reviews of things because it seems strange to be swayed by the opinions of anonymous people whom I did not know in the least and who might have their own agendas or even a vested interest in the product. If I do read a review, it is to see if there are some potential problems that I should look into before purchasing the product. [Read more…]
Science journalism plays an extremely important role in translating the almost impenetrable jargon and style of journal articles into languagethat can be digested by the general public. Hence it is important that they convey accurately and in a balanced way the main conclusions of the research. But in order to make their work appealing to the general public, scientists make often make passing claims in their papers that are not as well supported by their data but catch the eye of journalists who then give them undue weight. Seth Mnookin has pointed out recent examples where this practice has caused widespread public misunderstanding of the results of research. [Read more…]
There are times when I actually feel sorry for Fox News, as in this case where Gretchen Carlson ends up interviewing an idiot. Doesn’t anyone screen these people? It’s bad enough that she has to listen to the co-hosts on either side of her spouting drivel day in and day out, does she have to endure her guests be like them too? Will no one show her any mercy? [Read more…]
The internet age has spawned huge numbers of incidents where people have sent emails that have inadvertently offended the recipient because the sender was not sensitive enough to the absence in written messages of the important cues that accompany the spoken word, where facial expressions and tone of voice and inflexions can provide helpful clues to the speaker’s benign intent. [Read more…]
John McWhorter is a linguist who wrote an excellent book The Power of Babel on the evolution of language that I discussed about five years ago. He writes good essays on rhetorical styles and has analyzed the differences between the Clinton and Obama speeches at the Democratic convention. [Read more…]
Glenn Greenwald reports on what happened to a CNN investigative report that it had commissioned on the Arab spring in Bahrain in 2011. On arrival there, the CNN news team was shocked at the harsh treatment being meted out to everyone including them and they turned in a story that was highly critical of the Bahraini government. [Read more…]
In the September 2012 issue of Harper’s Magazine, David Sirota had an excellent article (subscription required for the full article though you can see a shortened version here) that examined how the fact that almost all the major cities have become one newspaper towns lacking any competition has resulted in in an unhealthy collusion between the papers and local institutions and business leaders, with the papers often suppressing stories that might harm the interests and images of powerful people. [Read more…]