Monday, June 9. 2025

Today's schedule is ABCD

A Block Physical Geography - You have the block to work on your Chroma Key Weather Forecast video project. Check the blog for sites to help. For the forecast, always ask yourself: “WHY DOES THIS MATTER?”: Why should the viewer care? The answer can be as simple as reminding the audience that they need to bring a jacket to school the next day, or as complex as the evolving local wildlife habitats. Either way, as reporters, you should train yourself to be thinking about “WHY” what you’re reporting on matters. Also place the weather in context. Research and then talk about statistics like records and averages. For example, “today might feel warm, but it’s actually ___ degrees warmer than the hottest day on record”, or “It’s ____ degrees warmer than the average temperature in July over the last five years”. You can also discuss how the average temperatures during any given year are changing.

When you are filming the forecast, the green screen is ready for you in the classroom (#115)…please remember, for the green screen, don't wear green.  A good general rule is to avoid any reflective materials in the shot. Jewelry and glasses can complicate this. If you know you need a green screen for a given shot, then you should keep tabs of what props are necessary and adjust as needed. Good luck and have fun. I will have 

B Block Criminology - So, Friday's question was

Why do you think True Crime is such a popular content area/genre in mass media and what are the potential effects of consuming it? Are the voyeurisms of consuming the True Crime genre of media an example of curiosity or exploitation? Does it teach? Does it normalize? Does it Rationalize? Does it Trivialize?

To help:

Consuming Television Crime Drama: A Uses and Gratifications Approach

AND I loved the show the Newsroom...more on it when we look at the portrayal of women in crime media, specifically Nancy Grace's coverage of the Casey Anthony trial...but here's a discussion on what is newsworthy

Vulture (article) "The Ethical Dilemma of Highbrow True Crime"...from the article

Network news magazine shows like Dateline and 48 Hours are somber and melodramatic, often literally starting voice-overs on their true-crime episodes with variations of “it was a dark and stormy night.” They trade in archetypes — the perfect father, the sweet girl with big dreams, the divorcee looking for a second chance — and stick to a predetermined narrative of the case they’re focusing on, unconcerned about accusations of bias. They are sentimental and yet utterly graphic, clinical in their depiction of brutal crimes.

TV Insider (article) Why Viewers Love True-Crime Shows
Psychology Today (article) The Guilty Pleasure of True Crime TV True crime TV is addictive to viewers.

Time Magazine (article) "Murder Shows—The New Soap Operas for Women?" and "Why We Are Drawn to True Crime Shows?"

Washington Post (article) "My Favorite Murder’ and the growing acceptance of true-crime entertainment" and the My Favorite Murder Instagram site
Entertainment Weekly (article) "Confessions of a Court TV Addict"
New York Times (article) "Is True Crime as Entertainment Morally Defensible?"
Globe and Mail (article) "Our addiction to true crime has a human cost"
CBS News This morning (article) "Why women are fueling the popularity of true crime podcasts"
The Guardian (article) "Serial thrillers: why true crime is popular culture's most wanted"
Quartz (article) How “true crime” went from guilty pleasure to high culture
The Atlantic (article) The New True Crime

This sets us up for Shaming, media, social media, crime, perception...it all comes together this week. Monica Lewinsky can help us understand this through her own personal experiences:

 

And...it's got potty mouth so *beware and watch with care* but John Oliver on Public Shaming

From Hollywood Insider:

Tabloid journalism was created in 1903 and would include celebrity and local gossip, sensationalize crimes, and human tragedies. This obviously would lead to creating paparazzi and more scandal-focused storytelling like clickbait eventually leading to social media. No one is truly safe from public shame: Britney Spears to Princess Diana faced this intense and unforgiving scrutiny. The film also discusses how social media algorithms are set up in a way to gain profit from views. One expert used the analogy that two kids on the playground are starting to fight when a third kid comes up and starts chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” According to him, Twitter acts a lot like that third kid. It’s how the internet earns money, it’s all advertisement and if they can get you to click on it, the more profits they earn. In order to advertise, there is often an element of sensationalism, and people are even more inclined to care if it makes them angry

Today's Fit...