Archive for the ‘Society and culture’ Category

Journal issue on community radio

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

The latest edition of WPCC, focused on community radio is now available. Some interesting papers for anyone interested in the area.

Yes Men bow to BP complaints - in their own way

Monday, March 10th, 2008

To be a satirist necessitates a certain thickness of skin. You're going to be upsetting people (if you do it properly), and need to be comfortable staring them down. So what do you do when you get a letter from a potential target complaining about a satire that never actually ...

Lunch and learn - Unofficial

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

It's getting close to that time of year. For the uninitiated, each year undergrads at the University of Illinois participate in an event titled Unofficial St Patrick's Day, or Unofficial for short. The slogan "Drink Until You're Irish" or - on this year's t-shirts - "Instant Irish: Just Add Alcohol." Last ...

Symbolism and rhetoric

Monday, February 4th, 2008

Many people pointed last week to Obama's victory speech in South Carolina, calling it inspiring and uplifting. At first glance I saw it as well executed, but perhaps lacking in substance in areas I would like to have addressed, but as I listened closer, particularly to the latter sections, I ...

A Critical Ear - 24 January, 2008

Friday, January 25th, 2008

We're now posting this evening's edition of A Critical Ear. It lasts about 90 minutes. Contents: Interworld Radio news headlines (3-4 min) Interworld Radio feature about healthcare services in Zambia (6 min) Discussion of Iran and US foreign policy regarding Iran (30-40 min) Gaza - recent developments and contextJose Padilla (5-10 min) Economic developments in ...

New ‘youth’ radio service for west of Ireland

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

i102-104, the group that won the tender for a youth service for the North-West, recently signed their contract with the BCI. The related press release promises us 'contemporary hits' and that the schedule "will also give prominence to new music and more specialist genres such as alternative rock and RnB/urban ...

Birth control costs shoot up for US students

Monday, November 26th, 2007

One of the many healthcare issues we've found ourself addressing in GEO this semester has been the huge increase in costs of the contraceptive pill from the campus healthcare centre. A New York Times story explains the tortured legislative changes that led drug companies to end their discounts to student ...

Of strikes and solidarity

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

The Writers' strike has garnered quite a bit of support, both from other entertainment workers and from the wider public. One idea for support that originated with fans, before being picked up by the union, is to send pencils to the media moguls that run 6 of the major companies ...

The impact of a declining dollar

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

As the dollar has continued to drop in value against the euro, I've predicted (with some trepidation) that it would be as low as $1.50 to the euro by the time I return to Ireland for Christmas. I must admit that I thought I was being somewhat pessimistic, but it ...

Solidarity efforts for WGA

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

As the Writers' strike continues into a second week, word of an interesting solidarity action as many of the blogs that usually cover the content generated by these writers are 'going dark' for a day to express their support. This at the same time that another group of writers, working ...