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GUEST OPINION: McLuhan, media and Trump's tweets – TheChronicleHerald.ca

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Certain images have been written forever on minds. One example is the New York Times’ picture of an American sailor kissing a total stranger amidst the joyous crowd celebrating the end of World Two. In contrast, we have the electronic image of Donald Trump blatantly removing his mask in Washington while a pandemic ravages his country.

Trump is no stranger to the media. He knows how to use all forms to get reelected at any cost. It is therefore incumbent on us to understand the effect of Trump’s use of the electronic media on us. How do we do this?

First, we must bounce Trump off media guru, and visionary Marshal McLuhan, 1911-1980. In Understanding Media (1964), McLuhan coined an infamous way of how radio and TV affect us differently. Radio has an intensifying effect because it appeals only to hearing. Hence radio is “hot.” In contrast, a TV image is “cool.” A multiple sense effect pulls us into (involves us) into the image or program. The next time you try to talk to someone watching TV, notice you can not reach them.

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But what has this media theory to do with Donald Trump? When he removed that mask for the electronic media, he drew us in. I doubt if Trump would know about McLuhan’s “hot and cool” theory, but Trump did know what he was doing. In other words, the electronic media in this unmasking was anything but neutral: Trump was manipulating us.

To understand better the effect of Trump’s act, we again delve into history. The telecast of Kennedy’s death was cool media-not meaning the event was happy but involving: we and CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite shed tears.

We doubt if any tears were shed at Trump’s media events, but let us be aware of the manipulative effect of Trump’s electronic images on us.

Second, let us consider Trump and Twitter. Like Facebook, and Instagram, Twitter is a social media platform that Jack Dorsey and others developed out of the internet. But let us hypothesize what McLuhan might say about Twitter which would intrigue him. He’d likely say Twitter is a “cool” hybrid media. Relying on print he might say Twitter is hot, but this interpretation limits how Twitter functions because it involves the user in a far more radical way. The user can shape the message; this thought brings us back to Trump.

Trump uses Twitter not just to inform us, but to alter our perception of the truth. Twitter has done wonders like helping to find lost children, but some of Trump’s tweets have become Orwellian brainwashing. In a sense, he has weaponized the media- print and electronic- to get reelected despite the pandemic.

In sum we must discern very carefully the effect of Trump’s use of media. This attitude will ensure that the media is not our master, but our servant.

Bernard J. Callaghan is a retired teacher and writer living in Charlottetown.

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued – CTV News

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued  CTV News

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India’s media – captured and censored

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Across almost every form of media in India – social, broadcast and print – Narendra Modi and the BJP hold sway.

With India amid a national election campaign, its news media is in sharp focus. Until recently it was believed that the sheer diversity of outlets ensured a range of perspectives, but now, India’s mainstream media has largely been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just how did the media in India get to this point and what does it mean for the upcoming elections?

Featuring:

Ravish Kumar – Former Host, NDTV
Shashi Shekhar Vempati – Former CEO, Prasar Bharati
Pramod Raman – Chief Editor, MediaOne
Amy Kazmin – Former South Asia Bureau Chief, Financial Times
Meena Kotwal – Founder, The Mooknayak

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Social media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards

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Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against multiple social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.

The school boards, including three in the Greater Toronto Area, have launched lawsuits seeking $4.5 billion in damages against Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta, the owner of both Facebook and Instagram, for creating products that they allege negligently interfere with student learning and have caused “widespread disruption to the education system.”

But at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa on Friday, Ford said that he “disagrees” with the legal action and worries it could take the focus away from “the core values of education.”

“Let’s focus on math, reading and writing. That is what we need to do, put all the resources into the kids,” he said. “What are they spending lawyers fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not this other nonsense that they are looking to fight in court.”

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Four separate but similar statements of claim were filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of JusticSocial media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the director of education with the Toronto District School Board, said in a news release issued Thursday.

“It is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.”

The school boards are represented by Toronto-based law firm Neinstein LLP and the news release states that school boards “will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.”

These lawsuits come as hundreds of school districts in the United States file similar suits.

“A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgement and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve,” Duncan Embury, the head of litigation at Neinstein LLP, said in the new release.

“We are proud to support our schools and students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”

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