By Gleb Tsipursky/Common Dreams

Consuming the wrong news can kill you. That’s the fundamental insight of a powerful new study about the impact of watching either Sean Hannity’s news show Hannity or Tucker Carlson’s Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News: one saved lives, and the other resulted in more deaths, due to how each of these hosts covered COVID-19.
This research illustrates the danger of falling for health-related misinformation due to dangerous judgement errors known as cognitive biases. These mental blindspots impact all areas of our life, from health to politics and even shopping, as a survey by a comparison purchasing website reveals. We need to be wary of cognitive biases in order to make wise decisions about our health and our politics to survive and thrive in this pandemic.

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Posted on September 23, 2020

By Benjamin Woo, Erin Hanna and Melanie E.S. Kohnen/The Conversation

With the vast majority of North America’s thousand-plus fan conventions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual conventions (called cons) have been a bright spot for fans in an otherwise bleak year. Although organizers have experimented with different ways to run an online convention, none had as high expectations as the San Diego Comic-Con’s Comic-Con@Home.
The virtual event, held July 22-26, featured content distributed across several platforms, including video panels, a virtual exhibition hall and a cosplay masquerade on Tumblr. From the beginning, it promised not only to fill the Comic-Con-shaped hole in regular attendees’ summers but also to make a Comic-Con experience accessible to fans who ordinarily can’t attend or are turned off by the scramble for badges and hotel rooms or by endless lines.
Comic-Con@Home inevitably drew comparisons to the in-real-life event, but some critics promptly branded it a failure – perhaps most prominently in Variety, the entertainment industry trade magazine.
But calling Comic-Con@Home a flop for not having enough exclusive movie reveals or failing to produce enough social media buzz assumes too much. Not all participants share the same goals as the largest industry players.

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Posted on September 12, 2020

By Truth Initiative

A groundbreaking new report released this week by Truth Initiative – the national public health organization behind a youth smoking, vaping and nicotine prevention campaign – finds that youth and young adults with high exposure to tobacco imagery in streaming and TV shows are three times more likely to start vaping compared to their peers with no exposure.
Straight to Vape: Pervasive Tobacco Imagery in Popular Shows Poses New Threat, Making Youth More Prone to E-Cigarette Use is the first study to establish a direct link between smoking imagery on the small screen and youth e-cigarette use.
This new vaping data come as the most popular shows among young people aged 15-24 years old continue to prominently feature tobacco images, and as streaming grows even more rapidly amid the COVID-19 pandemic with many young people spending more time at home.
With youth e-cigarette use already at epidemic levels, and a recent study showing young people who have vaped more likely to be diagnosed with coronavirus, it is clear that tobacco content on the small screen is a growing and urgent health risk for young Americans.

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Posted on September 5, 2020

Voice Of Victory Unwins

“The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), a worldwide television network that for years has aired a number of controversial prosperity preachers, says that as part of its ‘new vision’ and changes to the lineup, it will no longer air Word of Faith teacher Kenneth Copeland, whose Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast had been a part of TBN for 40 years,” Christian News reports.
“Airing in Copeland’s stead will be Steven Furtick, a hipster megachurch preacher who reportedly lives a lavish lifestyle and often preaches man-centered sermons.”
Here’s all you need to know:

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Posted on August 27, 2020

By Jonathan Pie, TV Reporter!

Almost as bad as “I’m With Her.” Bollocks! Build Back Bollocks! It’s happening again, isn’t it? I’m not sure I can do four more years.

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Posted on August 24, 2020

By David Rutter

News note: “Hall of Fame Indicts Glenn Beck.”
Wait! Hold on. I misread that. It’s “Hall of Fame INDUCTS Glenn Beck.”
That does not seem real, does it? Do you mean THE Glenn Beck?
Why, yes. Yes, I do mean THE Glenn Beck, the white-haired reptile human impersonator.
My confusion was reinforced partly because I did not realize at first that’s not a real Hall of Fame.
This is the Chicago-based Radio Hall of Fame which is the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.

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Posted on August 20, 2020

By IGN

Featuring a virtual table read from a 4th-season episode.

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Posted on August 10, 2020

By Karrin Vasby Anderson/The Conversation

Joe Biden’s promise to name a woman running mate has prompted familiar debates about gender and power.
Are these potential vice presidents supposed to be presidential lackeys or understudies to the leader of the free world? Should they actively seek the position, or be reluctant nominees bound by duty?
After Senator Kamala Harris’s name emerged as a short-list favorite, CNBC reported that some Biden allies and donors “initiated a campaign against Harris,” arguing that she was “too ambitious” and would be “solely focused on eventually becoming president.”
Claiming that people who want to be president make bad vice presidents might seem ill-conceived if your audience is Vice President Joe Biden. And pundits and journalists quickly pointed out that the argument was racist and sexist – like, really, really sexist.

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Posted on August 8, 2020

By World TeamTennis

CBS’s live airing of Sunday’s 2020 World TeamTennis championship, in which the New York Empire defeated the Chicago Smash on the last point of the super-tiebreaker 21-20, delivered 556,000 viewers, making it the most watched in the league’s 45-year history.
The victory by the New York Empire earned them the King Trophy and $500,000 in prize money and marked the first time that the WTT’s Finals have aired live on network television. During the event’s “super-tiebreaker” that determined the 2020 Champion viewership peaked at 1.128 million viewers.

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Posted on August 5, 2020

By Last Week Tonight

“Y’all don’t want to deal with the fucked-up shit your ancestors did.”

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Posted on August 3, 2020