Talking Media Studies: Recent Episodes
Michael Soha
This podcast is a fun way for me to provide some feedback and commentary in response to student writing, topics in class, and other stuff related to CMN 455: Intro to Media Studies.
This episode is a doozy -- breaking the hour mark -- but there are so many interesting and important issues to discuss here relating to social media, journalism, democracy, and free speech. This podcast episodes is in three parts 1) An update and commentary about former president Trump's continual ban from social media 2) Student comments 3) A final commentary about distrust, media, and the health of our democracy. I hope you enjoy this episode.
In this episode, we'll discuss the difference between free speech law, and cultural norms around free speech. After that, we'll look at some student comments, and a brief note about the economics of social media platforms and how they drive cancel culture.
This episode will cover the life and ideas of George Gerber, who thought that a more fearful society was more susceptible to authoritarian leaders, among other concerns. I'll discuss his 'Mean World Syndrome', some of your comments, and my own thoughts. This discussion covers a lot, from true crime television to mass shootings, and what it means to balance safety with fear.
In this episode, we'll discuss media effects models, media violence, and your comments on the Congressional testimony on media violence. This episodes features student comments, along with my response.
Welcome to your first episode of Talking Media Studies! In this episode, I'll first discuss writing strong discussion posts, the CC grade, and then focus on students comments on Jean Twenge's article "Are Smartphones Destroying a Generation".