Topic: Media Literacy

An engineering graduate from 1981 appreciates John C. Dvorak's ability to "rattle off chip numbers" and his kindred spirit. Aaron Hewitt Son from New South Wales, Australia, credits Dvorak's skepticism with helping her navigate the media landscape during the COVID-19 pandemic. The segments emphasize Dvorak's role in teaching listeners to question accepted narratives.

The hosts respond to requests for lectures on media literacy, clarifying that their focus is specifically on deconstructing propaganda. They acknowledge a listener's achievement in passing the CISSP cybersecurity exam and promote a resume-writing service for executives.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul directed the Division of Homeland Security to develop media literacy tools for K-12 students in public schools. The initiative aims to teach students and teachers how to identify conspiracy theories, misinformation, and online hate. Critics argue this is an extension of ill-defined hate speech laws intended to control digital discourse.

The show ends with a montage of clips featuring CDC Director Mandy Cohen urging Americans to get updated COVID-19 and flu shots. It also includes Governor Kathy Hochul's remarks on media literacy in schools, juxtaposed with various "truth-based" media soundbites. The final mix serves as a summary of the episode's themes regarding government messaging and media deconstruction.

A caller on C-SPAN's Washington Journal asked a provocative and racially charged question regarding former President Obama, which was quickly cut off by the host. The segment explores how such callers manage to get through the screening process and the nature of live call-in television. The hosts discuss the "woke" interpretation of such comments versus the absurdity of the claims themselves.

Producers report on successful meetups in North Carolina and Oregon, emphasizing the importance of human contact in a "judgment-free zone." A donor from Salt Lake City requests relationship karma for her boyfriend, Steven, and notes that the show has helped her 14-year-old son learn to spot media lies. The segment includes various "jingles" requested by the donors.

A segment from The Daily Show featuring Trump supporters at a rally highlights the irony of protesters demanding people "read the transcript" without having read it themselves. The hosts discuss how both political parties rely on a lack of primary source reading among the general public.

A clip from a show about Dallas Cowboys cheerleader candidates shows a young woman admitting she gets her news exclusively from Instagram. The coach advises her to consume more news for her own sake. This is used to segue back into a promotion for the "Smart News" app as a solution for poor media literacy.

Author Philip R. Dunn has produced a book titled "Media Collusion" aimed at teaching media literacy and critical thinking skills to students. The book explores the economics and power dynamics behind news and advertising, providing tools to analyze media motivations. The hosts express interest in repurposing the material for the "No Agenda" community to help combat mainstream propaganda.

The BBC has launched a media literacy initiative, including an online game and videos, to teach children how to identify "fake news." The hosts critique the BBC's definition of fake news as information distorted for political or commercial gain, arguing that mainstream outlets often fit this description through omission and slant.

Twitter notified over 600,000 users that they had interacted with accounts linked to the Russian Internet Research Agency. The platform announced new partnerships with organizations like Common Sense Media to improve "media literacy" and combat automated propaganda.

Legislation in Washington and 15 other states is pushing for "media literacy" to be taught in public schools to help students identify fake news and bias. Critics argue that these programs often instill their own biases, using historical examples like Japanese internment to teach children how to deconstruct modern political messaging.

Common Sense Media's five-step guide for spotting fake news is reviewed, which includes checking for unusual URLs and performing reverse image searches. The hosts mock the advice, noting that many "legitimate" news sites also use paywalls and sensationalist imagery, making the criteria difficult to apply objectively.

A segment on HLN regarding Edward Snowden joining Twitter is highlighted for a prank where an interviewee compared Snowden to the fictional character Edward Scissorhands. The host and control room failed to notice the interviewee was describing the plot of the Tim Burton film. Adam Curry suggests the segment might have been a "psyop" to distract from Snowden's immediate verification on Twitter.

The "Zen TV Experiment" is reintroduced as an exercise to help people understand how television shapes opinion through technical events like jump cuts and music. The hosts encourage listeners to watch TV without sound or listen without picture to recognize the manipulative nature of the medium. They emphasize that audio-only formats like their own show rely on similar psychological triggers.

A student teacher named Annie shares her "Breaking the Media Mind Control" curriculum, which tasks students with analyzing the dehumanizing language used during the Baltimore riots. Adam Curry encourages the use of the "search.nashownotes.com" engine as a research tool for such media literacy projects.

A local CBS affiliate interviewed Dr. Matthew Therrell to debunk a Forbes article suggesting the Earth is entering a period of global cooling. Therrell dismisses the Forbes piece as a non-reputable "op-ed" and tells his students to ignore such sources. The hosts criticize this as a "shout down" tactic used to discredit dissenting scientific views on climate.

The "Zen TV Experiment" is referenced to explain how the human brain fills in blanks when watching television news. It is argued that listening to news audio without the distracting visuals of "mayhem" allows for a more critical analysis of the facts. The segment contrasts the sensationalist visual reporting of television with the more curated audio reports found on outlets like NPR.

The hosts address a listener's concern about getting all their information from "No Agenda." They clarify that the show is not an information source but a tool for "enlightenment," providing listeners with the critical thinking skills needed to deconstruct mainstream media on their own.

The EU report recommends teaching "media literacy" in schools and suggests that political actors have a "special responsibility" in triggering news coverage. It proposes that the European Fundamental Rights Agency monitor national media for "pluralism," a move the hosts interpret as a mechanism for state-sanctioned propaganda and monitoring.