Classes start at M-T-S-U this week, and as nearly 26-thousand students come back to campus, we in the college of mass communication find ourselves facing the perennial question, "Are we a trade school or are we an academic school?"

How many of you remember a long time ago when software companies tried all sorts of schemes to prevent piracy? 

Ever since the First Continental Congress, the government has been dealing with leaks of classified information. 

This week, back in 1971, 41 years ago, the government and the news media were engaged in a struggle pitting secrecy against the public's right to know.  It also involved what was perhaps the government's first successful attempt to force a newspaper to stop publishing.

How many of you remember the myriad of stories you heard as children about the self-made millionaire?  

The recent Supreme Court arguments regarding the health care lawsuits have sparked numerous calls for a more open court, specifically real-time, or at a minimum, delayed video coverage.

 

I remember back in high school I did a term paper about Julius Caesar.  One of the sources I used for information about Caesar’s assassination was William Shakespeare.  But, although the Bard was undoubtedly a tremendous poet and writer, I don’t know that his Julius Caesar death scene was all that historically accurate.

This Friday, March 9th, marks an unusual coincidence in anniversaries and significant dates in the media.  In 1954 on this date, C-B-S news reporter Edward R. Murrow aired his famous Joseph McCarthy broadcast.

Remember when Sergeant Joe Friday used to say “Just the facts”?  And remember when the heart of journalism was gathering facts and then writing a story based on those facts?  

Almost everyone agrees that broadcasters should be prohibited from broadcasting “indecent” material. 

What do the printing press, telegraph, telephone, television, and everything about the Internet have in common:  they are all devices for delivering information. 

One of the hot button issues around these days relates to the notion of “paternalism”:  the government telling us what we can and cannot do in our own best interest.  But what happens if the government just makes suggestions?  

Get out your copy of the Constitution and the First Amendment, and read what it says about journalists.  Have you found that part yet?  No?  Actually, you probably won’t, because those documents don’t mention journalists at all. 

At the moment former speaker of the house Newt Gingrich appears to be leading other republican presidential contenders in the polls.  I say “for the moment,” because by the time I finish writing these comments someone else may very well be the front runner.

 

This week December 7th is the 70 anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  Many people recall hearing James Daley make the news announcement about the attack, and today that tape is standard fare in history and broadcasting classes.

 

Ever since the early days of broadcasting, nearly 100 years ago, the law has had an almost impossible time trying to keep up with technology.  Every time legislators think they have the technology figured out, a new wrinkle comes along that changes all of the rules.

 

350 Middle Tennessee business people were in attendance at the BBB Middle Tennessee 50th Anniversary Celebration event held at the Renaissance Nashville hotel, November 1.  Jennifer Kraus, Investigative Reporter, NewsChannel5 welcomed attendees and served as Emcee for the evening.