Media? Culture? Are the meanings changing?

ENG 2355 students, as we start reading Media & Culture, I think one important idea that we should have in our minds is the flux of meaning. Sounds impressive, yeah? Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert both get mentioned several times at the beginning of Chapter 1. Initially, the text refers to them as "fake-news anchors" (3). Are they? What's "fake" news? What about the presentation of "real" news might make it fake? Maybe check out some clips of one or both and see if you can discern fakery.

• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
• The Colbert Report

Is there a possibility that, in a postmodern world, the lines between fake and real have been blurred? Or perhaps they've shifted so subtly yet significantly that the "real" has become the new fake and the "fakers" are at least admitting what they're doing (while perhaps ACTUALLY informing as well)?

Think, to about the six bullet-points (mmmmm, bullet-points) at the end of Chapter 1 (34). Find one of those questions you're interested in and write up a response - not necessarily a definitve answer - for Thursday's class.

A little off-topic, but necessary...

So, this post is for English 3327, Speculative Fiction. Typically, I wouldn't post stuff for that class here, but it's the handiest way to give out all these links. The news stories linked here are merely a small handful of examples of science that we thought, perhaps, couldn't happen, or that we never knew existed. Yet, there the science is. Imagine what fiction writers thought 50 years ago. 100 years ago. Imagine what we'll accept as commonplace 50 years from now. Food for thought...

• Can you patent the building blocks of life?
• The Top Scientific Breakthroughs of 2010
• This Is the Future of the Fight Against Cancer
• Degradable Nanoparticles Bludgeon Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
• Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants
• New Nanosensor Sniffs Bombs, One Molecule at a Time
• Designer Life Forms, Coming Soon Whether You Like It Or Not

UPDATE:
Oh, man. I had to add this story just because - I  mean - flying unmanned drones! REALLY?!

• Swarms of Drones Will Kill Us All! (One Day)