The Digital Divide still lives

Going rural more than likely means going dial-up. That's what Steven Levy, technology columnist for Newsweek magazine, found this summer when he took some time off in the Berkshires. (I found the same thing when I retreated to the farm in East Tennessee.) High speed Internet access was not available, and that's a problem -- not just for us geeks.

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Off again, on again

The general manager of the public radio station in Lexington, Ky., caused a minor flap late last week by announcing that he was pulling Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac off WUKY. Tom Godell expressed some dismay at the language that was cropping up in some of the poems that Keillor had read on the program and fear that his station would be fined by the Federal Communications Commission. Keillor was certainly no Howard Stern, Godell said, but “the FCC has been so inconsistent, we don’t know where we stand.”

That was Friday. By Saturday Keillor was back. The station received so many phone calls and emails from its listeners that Godell was forced to relent. One of those who protested was Leonard Press, the founder and long-time director of Kentucky Educational Television who called the cancellation "an overreaction" and said, "This is a man who is one of the premier writers and performers of our time. I think he's generally recognized for his tastefulness." according to a report in the Cincinnati Post. (See also report in the Lexington Herald Leader.) Godell said he decided to cancel the show after an increasing number of “language advisories” had been sent to produces. Such advisories alert stations to the possibilities of language that might not be suitable to all audiences. In this case, there were references to the female breast and in one poem to getting “high.” While many (including Keillor) are castigating Godell for his decision, we might want to examine whether or not the FCC has created a climate where such fears are legitimate. The heavy-handedness of the FCC should be remembered along with the names of Janet Jackson and Howard Stern.



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Changing context: Burn, baby, burn!

The 1960s seem to be always with us. Rarely do you hear or see a television ad that doesn't have some sixties rock hit as its theme or background music. Now there's going to be a hot sauce that uses a phrase that was anything but benign in that decade: Burn, baby, burn. For those of us who lived through the sixties, the phrase conjures up images of Watts, Detroit and a dozen other places whose conflagrations had deep political meanings. Leonard Pitts, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Miami Herald, has written an elegant piece about the way the context of this phrase has changed.

Your first thought is to wonder what's next. Power to the People Electric Company? Off the Pig pork rinds?

Your second thought is to marvel at how that which was once dangerous and intimidating has become safe and unthreatening enough to sit on a supermarket shelf. Maybe you remember the title of that old Doobie Brothers album: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. To that you can now add a corollary: What were once threats are now marketing slogans.

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Invisible writing

One of the best mystery novelists around today is William G. Tapply, creator of the Brady Coyne mystery series. Tapply's novels live up to the cover blurbs -- well-formed characters, tightly woven plots and elegant writing. Tapply practices what many of us who teach writing often preach, and he gives voice to some of those practices in an essay on his web site called "Invisible Writing." The essay tells the story of what Tapply learned from his father -- also an excellent writer -- when he was beginning his craft. The essay emphasizes two major points I make with my students: pay attention to verbs (read more on this) and try to make your writing invisible to the reader. The term I use for the second point is "modesty." A good writer should try to put the content in the foreground and the writer in the background. Tapply's essay and his novels are well worth reading.



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Expensive misspelling

Tell your students (as you undoubtedly do) that they need to spell correctly and that they should check their spelling. Not doing so can turn out to be an expensive proposition. That's what the folks in Livermore, Calif., found out in 2004 when they spent $40,000 for a mosaic for their new library. The artwork contained 175 words, many of them names of writers, scientists and artists. Some 11 of those words were misspelled. They included Shakespeare (Shakespere), Einstein (Eistein), and Gauguin (Gaugan). The Miami artist who executed the work at first claimed artistic license (maybe some of your students have used the same excuse) but later said she would fix the problem words. Unfortunately, the city of Livermore is having to pay her $6,000 plus expenses to do that. California law requires that public artwork cannot be changed without the consent of the artist. Some people are blaming city and library officials as well as the artist, saying they should have checked the spelling before approving the artwork. You can read more about this in the news stories of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Contra Costa Times (registration required).


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John H. Johnson

John H. Johnson. The nation lost one of its media pioneers on Monday, Aug. 8, 2005, with the death of John H. Johnson. He was the Chicago entrepaneur and publisher who recognized that blacks aspired to be better off and have more -- and that they were gaining the ability to pay for it. His magazines, including Negro Digest, Ebony and Jet, gave voice to a rising black middle class that emerged from World War II. It was a time when blacks were often degraded or more commonly ignored by white owned and operated media. But Johnson saw the rise of of black artists, athletes and actors as indicative of what all blacks aspired to -- making life better for themselves and their children. Johnson's death has been overshadowed by that of ABC news anchor Peter Jennings, which is too bad. Johnson's effect on the mass media of the 20th century, and on American society itself, has been profound.

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Contracting the First Amendment

One of the ideas this JPROF.com advocates -- in addition to good journalism and good journalistic practices -- is expanding the First Amendment. Unfortunately, there are too many people and organizations trying to do just the opposite. A recent example comes from a judge in Washington state who thinks that controlling campaign finances is more important than political advocacy and free speech.

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Newspaper of the future

The New York Times devoted a great deal of space in its business section last month to a profile of the newspaper in Lawrence, Kan. The paper is devoting many resources to building an innovative set of web sites -- innovation that is a part of the newspaper's history and tradition. The Times article provoked online media guru and newspaper critic Vin Crosbie to identify six trends that newspapers should use in planning their future: multimedia, unlimited depth, depackaging, on-demand content, individualization, and mobility and ubiquity.

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Communities of interest

The ideal sounds great: a group of people who share an interest in a topic are able to exchange information and ideas about it over the internet. Time and geography are overcome. Such communities of interest would be informative, respectful and self-regulating. That was what I described in Web Journalism: Practice and Promise of a New Medium several years ago. But Michael Kinsley's recent experience (described in his weekly column "Cybercreeps run amok") has had a very different experience. So have I.

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New images of the Scopes trial

The trial of high school teacher John Scopes in Dayton, Tenn., 80 years ago this month remains one of the 20th century's iconic events. It drew vast media attention and pitted cultural forces against one another that are still at war today. This week, to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Scopes trial, the Smithsonian Institution announced that it had discovered new images of the trial that had been hidden away for many years. One such image (right) shows Clarence Darrow questioning William Jennings Bryan at the trial. The courtroom had been moved outside of the Rhea County courthouse because of the sweltering heat and the large crowds who had come to see the confrontation

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Sixth edition in print

The sixth edition of Writing for the Mass Media is now in print and available for fall adoptions. This edition contains much of the same material and exercises found in previous editions, but there are a few new features: a completely rewritten chapter on writing for the web, updated examples and exercises, a glossary, and a new web site that ties in closely with JPROF.com. Instructors can order exam copies at the book's page on the Allyn and Bacon web site.

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