Remember the time

Posted on by CMSU Reflections
Emerson PD5202 portable AM/FM radio with CD player (photo by Dwight Burdette/Wikimedia Commons)
Emerson PD5202 portable AM/FM radio with CD player (photo by Dwight Burdette/Wikimedia Commons)

When I think of the ’90s, I think of music. Fun music. Hip-hop (which expanded from its early days), pop hits and — my favorite genre — new jack swing.

Artists including Guy (featuring new jack’s architect, Teddy Riley), Keith Sweat, SWV and TLC were the new jack acts topping the charts in the ’90s, and their songs provided a soundtrack for me to bounce to. “I Like,” “Twisted,” “Right Here (Human Nature Mix)” and “Creep” created the love language of the times.

The new jack swing era was the last time I listened to music on the radio. After I bought my first CD, I learned I could bypass chattering dee-jays and endless commercials and customize the tracks I wanted to hear.

After CDs came iPods and downloads. And now, only 17 years past the ’90s, playing music on a smartphone is my go-to method of delivery. 

The text “Media and Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age (Campbell, Martin, Fabos)” says the “history of mass media has moved from emergence to convergence.” This quick-development process has put multimedia access — and so much else that simplifies our lives — at our fingertips all the time. “This convergence has been happening since the early 1990s,” the textbook says. “Ever-growing download speeds and the development of more portable devices have fundamentally changed the ways in which we access and consume media.” 

I’m a grateful beneficiary of this technological and cultural shift. I do listen to radio these days, though rarely in the car. A few apps on my tablet (too much of a battery-drain to play them on my smartphone) and stations that stream live broadcasts let me tune in around the country — WHUR in Washington, D.C., KGNW in Seattle, KKLA in Los Angeles and ESPN Radio have been a few favorites. 

Convergence has even changed the nature of radio itself, as seen with the growth of Rivet Radio, an app that offers “tailored content” full of local, national and global news and a “personalized listening experience” to audiences that are “on-the-go,” its Web site boasts.  

So when I get nostalgic for the ’90s, I play a little TLC on my iPhone. Something old and something new usually keep me smiling for hours.

News literacy in real time

Posted on by CMSU Reflections
David Bowie performs at Tweeter Center outside Chicago in Tinley Park, Ill., on Aug. 8, 2002. Photo by Adam Bielawski (commons.wikimedia.org)
David Bowie performs at Tweeter Center outside Chicago in Tinley Park, Ill., on Aug. 8, 2002. Photo by Adam Bielawski (commons.wikimedia.org)

Just after midnight in Chicago, early Monday, Jan. 11, a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter announced the death a day earlier of music icon David Bowie.

As a fan of the artist, I was shocked at what I considered Bowie’s untimely passing. I’d heard no rumors of ill health. In fact, I’d seen a few recent headlines about a new CD release by the artist, which turned out to have occurred two days before his death — on Bowie’s 69th birthday.

Despite my training as a journalist to seek accuracy above all else, I hoped the story was wrong. I wanted it to be a horrible rumor, another social media mistake prematurely killing off an unsuspecting celebrity.

Twitter heads like me know not to trust every tweet that hits our timeline. Yet, when it is true, we hope to commiserate with our social comrades. So I was torn about whether to retweet the news immediately (and just retweet a correction later if it turned out to be a hoax) or wait and let confirmation (and corroboration) come from other reputable media sources before sharing the sad announcement.

In weighing these options, I engaged the “critical process,” a method that can help consumers find which media content is trustworthy. The process outlined in the textbook “Media and Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age (Campbell, Martin, Fabos)” requires “description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and engagement.”

I quickly texted a friend to discuss the headline and whether or not to believe it. I told her it originated with The Hollywood Reporter. As journalists who’ve worked for celebrity magazines, we both know THR’s work as a reputable source for showbiz news. “HR is credible,” she wrote. I replied that I trusted them too. (Description)

Also, THR’s tweet said explicitly that a Bowie rep had confirmed the news to them. This added layer of reporting said that the site was staking its own reputation on the facts and not just relying on another news outlet’s work. This is what I’ve come to expect from THR — its pattern of independently reporting/verifying facts. (Analysis and Interpretation)

But I didn’t tweet yet. My friend and I both scoured the Internet looking for comparable news sites to say the same thing. Most were attributing their reports to THR. Then CNN International had it. “AP’s confirmed it now,” I wrote to her. “Variety too,” my friend texted. I finally saw a tweet from what I considered an original, definitive source: Bowie’s son, filmmaker Duncan Jones.

I believed the story now — though I didn’t want to. The reputation of THR, its pattern of accuracy and an added word from an insider made it OK for me to share. (Engagement) I didn’t need to be among its first tweeters, but as a Bowie believer, I couldn’t wait to mourn with likeminded tweeters.