Volume 50 • Number 4 • July 2009
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VOLUME 50 • NUMBER 2009 4 • JULY Feedback [ [FEEDBACK ARTICLE ] ] July 2009 (Vol. 50, No. 4) Feedback is an electronic journal scheduled for posting six times a year at www.beaweb.org by the Broadcast Education Association. As an electronic journal, Feedback publishes (1) articles or essays— especially those of pedagogical value—on any aspect of electronic media: (2) responsive essays—especially industry analysis and those reacting to issues and concerns raised by previous Feedback articles and essays; (3) scholarly papers: (4) reviews of books, video, audio, film and web resources and other instructional materials; and (5) official announcements of the BEA and news from BEA Districts and Interest Divisions. Feedback is editor-reviewed journal. All communication regarding business, membership questions, information about past issues of Feedback and changes of address should be sent to the Executive Director, 1771 N. Street NW, Washington D.C. 20036. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 1. Submit an electronic version of the complete manuscript with references and charts in Microsoft Word along with graphs, audio/video and other graphic attachments to the editor. Retain a hard copy for refer- ence. 2. Please double-space the manuscript. Use the 5th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) style manual. 3. Articles are limited to 3,000 words or less, and essays to 1,500 words or less. 4. All authors must provide the following information: name, employer, professional rank and/or title, complete mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, and whether the writing has been presented at a prior venue. 5. If editorial suggestions are made and the author(s) agree to the changes, such changes should be submitted by email as a Microsoft Word document to the editor. 6. The editor will acknowledge receipt of documents within 48 hours and provide a response within four weeks. REVIEw GUIDELINES 1. Potential instructional materials that can be reviewed include books, computer software, CD-ROMs, guides, manuals, video program, audio programs and Web sites. 2. Reviews may be submitted by email as a Microsoft Word document to the editor. 3. Reviews must be 350-500 words in length. 4. The review must provide a full APA citation of the reviewed work. 5. The review must provide the reviewer’s name, employer, professional rank and/or title, email address and complete mailing address. SUBMISSION DEADLINES Feedback is scheduled, depending on submissions and additional material, to be posted on the BEA Web site the first day of January, March, May, July, September and November. To be considered, submissions should be submit- ted 60 days prior to posting date for that issue. Please email submissions to Joe Misiewicz at [email protected]. If needed: Joe Misiewicz, Feedback Editor, Department of Telecommunications, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA. Feedback receives support from Ball State University’s College of Communication, Information and Media. BROADCAST EDUCATION ASSOCIATION BEA Customer Service: [email protected] Toll free: (888) 380-7222 FEEDBACK EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR: Joe Misiewicz, Department of Telecommunications, Ball State University ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR: Kerri Misiewicz, University Teleplex, Ball State University CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Scott Davis, Indiana University-East Feedback July 2009 (Vol. 50, No. 4) [ CONTENTS ] Click on title to view page. [ ARTICLES ] THE GENESIS OF SOUTH PARK & POLITICAL CORRECTNESS By Brian Dunphy .........................................................................................................4 WHERE ARE WE HEADED By William G. Christ .................................................................................................14 TO SPOOF THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM: THE ParodY AS LEARNING TOOL By Randall Patnode ....................................................................................................17 THE CELL PHONE By Ron Steiner ...........................................................................................................20 SO YOU WANT TO BE A TV NEWS ANCHOR? IT’S survivaL OF THE fittest IN ONE OF THE SMALLEST newsrooms IN AMERICA By Michael A. Lewis ..................................................................................................23 AvaiLABILITY AND CHaracteristics OF HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO STREAMING CONTENT By Michel Dupagne and Kim Grinfeder ....................................................................33 MY RADIO Station HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY ALIEN PSYCHOS!: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF VIDEO Resources FOR Instructors OF RADIO By Lawrence Etling ....................................................................................................41 [ REVIEwS ] 54 [ NEwS & NOTES ] 60 [ DIRECTORY ] 71 BEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 3 [ ARTICLE ] THE GeneSIS OF SOUTH PARK & POLITICAL CORRECTNESS By Brian Dunphy The idea for teaching a class on South Park has been in the Brooklyn College back of my mind for many years. Before I was a professor in the Department of CUNY system, I attended a Master’s program at the University Television and Radio of Amsterdam. It was during this time that I started to design profdunphy@gmail. courses I thought students would connect to and South Park was com one of those ideas. I dismissed it rather quickly and focused on (718) 951-5555 designing safer courses rather than radical ones. When I returned from Amsterdam my first teaching job was at Kingsborough Community College in the Communications department. The school was very flexible with regards to the way professors were able to design and teach their courses. I was given a title for the class and was then encouraged to create my syllabus from that title. It usually went in a direction that they least expected. One of my classes was a Film Genres course titled: Hollywood Musicals. I must readily admit that out of all the genres of film, this is my least favorite. Instead of exclusively screening the classic Hollywood musicals, I stepped out of the box and showed lesser-known and darker musicals. One of those films was “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut,” a film I view as musical regard- less of whether or not critics choose to classify as such. The class was a success. Not only was I able to show a different kind of musical, but because it was South Park, I reached the students in a new way. Surprisingly, after the initial lecture on the rules of musicals, the subject matter turned towards censorship, obscenity laws and freedom of speech. It was the best class of the semester but at the time I failed to recognize its potential. However, the genesis of ‘South Park and Political Correctness’ began with that class. Once I left Kingsborough and moved to Brooklyn College, I started teaching an Introduction to Mass Media course with two different sections per week. The course covered the history, controversy and the current state of all forms of media. I equate the class to a whirlwind tour through Europe: 5 countries in 8 days. During my first semester with this course, I taught a class about the record industry. The main controversy in this section revolved around illegal downloading and what it means for music, the musicians and the music industry. A large majority of the students in the class illegally downloaded music, so the debate was rather benign and not as interesting as I had hoped it 4 Feedback July 2009 (Vol. 50, No. 4) would be. I decided during the second section of the course I would show an episode of South Park called “Christian Rock Hard.” The episode was about the record industry, the artists, illegal downloading and governmental (and law enforcement) responses to those who are illegally downloading songs and Christian rock music. The students immediately connected to the episode. Besides laughing at all the right points, they understood why I was showing the episode in class and its relevancy to what we had been studying. The conversation that emerged between the students was passionate, exciting and above all—educational. We engaged one another in debate over the many issues that South Park brought up in the episode. Instead of lecturing on the controversy, I had South Park bring the various issues to the forefront and it allowed the students to take the lead in the discussion. Of course, I had questions prepared to stimulate the students just in case the conversation lagged, but the students remained engaged. After the class ended I realized that South Park could be used as a teaching tool to discuss religion, social issues, and terrorism -post 9/11. I immediately pitched the idea to the chair of the TV & Radio department, Dr. George Rodman. He had previously supported some my more radical ideas and lectures, and he saw, just as I did, that this approach could actually work as a class. He had the foresight to believe that we were taping into a new method of teaching. We began to create a class proposal for Brooklyn College to look at and it was approved for the fall 2008 semester. CREATING THE COURSE South Park has over 150 episodes and not every one of them is relevant to teach in a collegiate setting. I had in mind a select few that would provide the structure, and form the foundation of the class. South Park has aired many episodes about religion, particularly the evils of religious extremism and the hypocrisy of organized religion. “Trapped in the Closet” was a famous episode about Scientology, Tom Cruise and the hypocrisy of the ‘religion.’ I knew that I wanted to feature that episode in the class and