professorlarry

I wrote an article on Celebrity Journalism and Lindsay Lohan today in the Huffington Post. Here’s the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-atkins/why-the-media-will-always_b_662457.html

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a break from criticizing the United States and Israel. He now has a new enemy: Paul the Octopus. In a speech yesterday, Ahmadinejad condemned the World Cup predicting octopus as being a symbol of Western decadence and decay and all that is wrong with Western society. I’ve heard that, in response, Paul advised bettors to take Israel and the points in a nuclear war against Iran. Did the Iranian President jump the shark on this one? (Photo: Volker Hartmann, AP)

Last week, an Israeli court sentenced a Palestinian man to 18 months in jail for committing the crime of rape by deception. The man had posed as an Israeli in order to try to assimilate better into Israeli society. He met an Israeli woman on the street in a casual encounter and then had consensual sex in an office building the same day. When the woman found out that he was an Arab, she contacted the police. Rape by deception is a troubling concept. There are two states in the U.S., California and Tennessee, which have rape by deception statutes, and Massachusetts is considering it. Having such a law opens up Pandora’s Box, so to speak. Would a white woman who had sex with a man be able to bring a rape by deception charge against a light skinned black man who told her he was white. How about a Jewish man who lied that he was Christian? Or a janitor who lied and said he was a multimillion dollar CEO? Where does it end? Could a Philadelphia Eagles fan claim rape by deception if a Dallas Cowboys fan pretended to be an Eagles fan? Would men be able to sue women for rape by deception if they said they were 36 years old on their Match.com profile when in fact they were 46 years old? I don’t mean to minimize the horrible crime of rape, but where would rape by deception end?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner went on the Sunday morning talk shows to explain the Obama Administration’s position that it would support repealing the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000 a year but would keep the tax cuts for the middle class. It’s a fair policy, as it would keep the tax cuts for nearly 97 percent of all Americans. President Obama made this one of the centerpieces of his campaign. Furthermore, it would show fiscal discipline; renewing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would add to the federal deficit. The income gap between wealthy Americans and everyone else rose significantly during the past few decades. The economy thrived under President Clinton when taxes were higher on the wealthy. Keep tax cuts for the middle class and for small businesses, but don’t give them to wealthy people who don’t need them. Your comments?

As I was flipping around the TV channels yesterday, I came across The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge on ABC. It was sort of like a doggie Olympics, featuring obstacle courses, races, and a pool diving contest. It was kind of cute and funny to watch the dogs running around pylons and it was amusing to hear the expert color commentator critique the dog trainers’ throws of the tennis balls or toys that enticed the dogs to jump. However, this event made me think about whether these contests and dog shows are exploiting the animals. I’m not a PETA protester and I do eat meat, but I wonder whether we should be showing off and training these dogs just to amuse us. Let me know what you think.

There is an interesting article and panel discussion posted in SportsBusiness Journal regarding how sports teams are using social media like Twitter and Facebook to promote their teams.

On Wednesday, University of Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban lashed out at sports agents during the SEC Media Day, alleging that they are like pimps, preying on college athletes. Granted, there is a big problem with agents enticing potential client athletes with cash and cars, but Saban and his fellow coaches are also a big part of this problematic culture as well. Most college coaches, including Saban, have no problem breaking their contracts to move on to higher paying jobs. These coaches are using the players to advance their careers as much as the agents are.

Andrew Breitbart has a lot of nerve. He released and promoted the misleading and partial video of Shirley Sherrod’s speech on his blog, yapping that it showed racism on the part of Sherrod. Yesterday, while tons of people were apologizing to Sherrod, including White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the NAACP, and even Bill O’Reilly of FOX News, the person who initiated this whole mess, Breitbart, chose to blame the Obama Administration and the mainstream media for relying on his video when it forced Sherrod to resign.

Yes, the NAACP and the Obama Administration deserve to be chastised for being snookered on the Shirley Sherrod video, but the bulk of the blame should fall on Conservative Blogger Andrew Breitbart, who aired the partial video of Sherrod’s alleged racist comments without looking into or revealing the context of her statements. No doubt, Breitbart will target “evil Liberals” in the future. While he’ll be hailed as a hero on FOX News and Conservative talk radio, hopefully, everyone else won’t give this guy any credibility.

Yesterday, a swarm of Journalists and Photographers cascaded upon a Beverly Hills Courthouse to get a photo of Lindsay Lohan entering the building. It was a media circus, as hundreds of reporters were there and cable news outlets like MSNBC and FOX News gave extensive live coverage to the event and even had the requisite helicopter shots of the O.J.-like motorcade of Team Lohan as they were driving to the courthouse. It’s sad to see such an emphasis on Celebrity Journalism when there are so many more important stories to cover, but it’s all about ratings and giving the people what they seem to want. (Photo: John Adkisson, Los Angeles Times).