What exactly is the ‘Political Economy’ (PE)? The PE is a fairly ambiguous concept which encompasses several disciplines related to the social sciences, cultural studies and economics – among other things. Vincent Mosco’s book The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal defines PE as “the study of the social relations, especially the power relations […]
The Pew Research Center’s annual State of the Media Report underscores recent developments which suggest that American journalism is in the midst of a seismic transformation. Much of the discussion surrounds the ways in which people consume news, and the need for news producers to be able to respond to increasing consumer demands if it […]
It’s depressing that women in America are the target of hate and suspicion simply because they possess wombs. Suppressing the rights of women is morally wrong — whether it’s the Taliban or Christian fundamentalists doing the suppressing. America appears to be entering a new dark age where women’s reproductive rights are once again a political […]
You gotta hand it to Bibi Netanyoohoo: his genocidal policies toward the Palestinians sure have made his country more secure, haven’t they? You betcha! He should be real proud of himself for making everyday life so safe and secure for the people he pretends to care so much about. Yep, Israeli citizens can sleep safely […]
Agenda-setting theory relates to mass communications and media; particularly news coverage. It focuses on how the news is presented and what news is shown to the public as being newsworthy. My focus in this blog will be on the recent phenomenon of participatory or ‘citizen’ journalism, and how this new development disrupts the assumptions of […]
The most popular TV shows today appear to be sanitized to the point of banality, and they’ve been stripped of all humorous or controversial content. Nothing on American television is created for an IQ higher than 80, no matter how “good” it is. Sometimes I’ll walk into a friend’s house and as far as I can […]
I’ve always hated the term African-American, because I found it downright patronizing and vituperatively ‘Politically Correct.’ I am old enough to remember when that whole PC thing happened: during the odious Reagan era of the early 1980s. The ‘Reagan Revolution’ was a complete fraud; a Ponzi scheme of monumental proportions foisted upon an ignorant, gullible […]
‘Colion Noir’ is the latest weapon to be deployed in The National Rifle Association’s ongoing battle to win over minorities to their maniacal cause. Noir has become a YouTube sensation – and a darling of the NRA – because supposedly he is a young black man who opposes even the most common-sense gun control laws. […]
Mad Men is a perfect example of a serialized historical melodrama that permits viewers to re-evaluate the past. The show was created by Matthew Weiner, a co-writer and producer of The Sopranos, in 1999. Mad Men arguably tells us less about the 1960s than it does about the current desire for collective nostalgia for the […]
Effective celebrity activists use their fame and fortune to bring attention to important issues and to give credibility to legitimate representatives of social movements. Internationally-known celebrities can help expose and highlight problems which would normally get little or no news coverage without their involvement. But does celebrity involvement really make any difference in what people […]
Jason Darensburg's Blog-o-rama 