The Media Zone

How the media make sense and nonsense of the world

Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D. is Senior Editor of the Journal of Media Psychology and Emeritus Professor of Media Psychology at Cal State, Los Angeles. See full bio

October 15, 2009

Rush Limbaugh, the Rams and My Reader Outrage

Such is the case with Limbaugh. His broadcast droppings are redolent spoors good hunters pick up on, track down and finally hang on their own broadcast walls, trophies of "the good hunt." Read More

October 12, 2009

If Rush Limbaugh buys the St. Louis Rams, Will it Become All White or All Right?

When it comes to the passions of prejudice and the bellowing of bigots, the Id dominates. When the microphone or the camera beckons, that's catnip for exhibitionists like Rush. Read More

October 9, 2009

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize to Shock, Awe, and Dismay

...one can just imagine the Rumplestilson reactions that will echo across this nation. Some will trumpet their disdain, others will whisper it. Both will try to minimize it or find some scintilla of socialism lurking below the surface. Read More

September 23, 2009

Oprah "no like" Mackenzie Phillips' incest tale

You know what, regardless of the incestuous bonds they share or the silent rape of body and mind that forms the nerve endings of their pasts, I don't think Oprah likes Mackenzie Phillips. Read More

August 29, 2009

Radical Republicans, Health Care Reform and Hooliganism

Rep. Jim Moran spoke truth to the threat of crude power simmering in the audience at the Town Hall meeting on Health Care Reform. His supporters, who came to learn and perhaps to stand against the zealots, were ready to help him maintain the peace and order.

August 12, 2009

Julie and Julia: Sex and French Food

America had a true love affair with Julia Child. It was a time before the fast food -- obesity epidemic that is today's state of mind and of body. A time before taking your kids to McDonalds was presented as an act of familial love. Read More

July 29, 2009

Why is Bill Kristol Playing Jon Stewart's Bitch?

Really, seriously, what is it with politico William Kristol and his apparent need to periodically guest on The Daily Show and be skewered, dismembered, eviscerated, flayed, beaten into the ground like a Loony Tunes cartoon coyote, all the while smiling a sickly grin as if to say, I'm lovin' it--all the while whispering, 'I'm here with my whip-lashing, black leathered, exquisite master of pain, Jon, the Visitor of Purification, Stewart? Read More

July 25, 2009

Jon Stewart:Trust a Comedian to be Trusted With the Truth

Stewart will confront people, gently or with unrelenting, hollow point bullet humor, in order to get to the truth behind the cant, the facts behind the fiction. Read More

July 18, 2009

Where Were You When Walter Cronkite's Death was Announced?

There I was, at Hugh's house, talking guy stuff, something to do with Samurai swords and the art of crafting their hair-slicing edge - very "Kill Bill" hormonics -- when my wife sidled over to this male pod and interrupted us to announce that Walter Cronkite had just died. Read More

July 12, 2009

Michael Jackson's Memorial "Concert"

The overarching fact of this Michael Jackson attention bubble was that the man and the myth were everywhere. Suddenly and once again, the media was all Michael all the time -- Klieg lights in cyberspace and beyond. Was this just too much? A gross misordering of priorities? Read More

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