This year has been a grim one for journalism, with layoffs at the Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, NBC News, Forbes, National Geographic, Business Insider and Sports Illustrated. Further cuts loom in…
Tag: Media
Newsrooms are experimenting with generative AI, warts and all
The journalism industry has been under immense economic pressure over the past two decades, so it makes sense that journalists have started experimenting with generative AI to boost their productivity. An Associated…
Has the media learned anything since the O.J. Simpson trial?
With the death of O.J. Simpson, I can’t help but wonder whether the media has learned any lessons from its coverage of his trial, in which the ex-football star was acquitted of…
Is this the dawn of a new era in women’s sports?
Though the college career of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark ended with a disappointing loss, the point guard’s record-breaking season helped fuel widespread interest in this year’s NCAA women’s college basketball tournament. The women’s…
Saving the news media means moving beyond the benevolence of billionaires
For the journalism industry, 2024 is off to a brutal start. Most spectacularly, the Los Angeles Times recently slashed more than 20% of its newsroom. Though trouble had long been brewing, the…
How TV shows have grappled with a post-Dobbs America
Two doctors sit, despondent, on the side of a busy road as they watch an EMT zip up the body of their patient into a body bag. The patient died as a…
The US has a child labor problem – recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they’ve left behind
At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Special Collections, where I am head curator, we’ve recently completed a major digitization and rehousing project of our collection of over 5,400 photographs made by…
Never mind Cleopatra – what about the forgotten queens of ancient Nubia?
Jada Pinkett Smith’s new Netflix documentary series on Cleopatra aims to spotlight powerful African queens. “We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important…
New research identifies why people prefer spontaneity in entertainment
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Audiences love to see athletes and entertainers behaving spontaneously, according to our recent research, because ad-libbed lines, spectacular…
Conservatives’ ‘anti-woke’ alternative to Disney has finally arrived
As fanfare blares, female sprinters at the starting line suspiciously eye a man in a wig. A hulking, goateed wrestler slams a woman half his size to the mat. An ominous voice-over…