Women's image in the media- undoubtedly done to death. But now an interactive, multimedia curriculum for students of media courses encourages a critical exploration of advertising and the images of women that it projects.

The future copywriters and journalists will perhaps learn a bit more than what they already know.

A good step, but will the ads change? I doubt it.

The pre-election polls have begun. Outlook did one. So did India Today. And now it's Zee News. And on NDTV India, you get to watch satires on Uma Bharti, Diggy, and everyone else in the political scenario!

What is next? A poll on which of these polls will be the most accurate? Not a bad idea! ;-)

This is the beginning of "dumbing down newspapers to attract young readers". And why not? Fewer and fewer people from the younger generation are reading newspapers, or even bothering about news.

BBC News has released a PDF version of its stylebook.

Whether you want to work for the Beeb or not, it's a must-read for full-fledged journos or aspiring ones.

According to a student, the newspaper coverage of ragging in Delhi University promoted the crime.

And maybe he/she does have a point. The media are becoming less and less responsible, but who cares?

And should the head honchos of the media companies even bother?

Maybe I did this only to serve my purpose, but a few good websites for freelance writers-

Writing World

Peak Writing

Freelancing Tips at Sree.net

A discussion we had in class today- the role the media can play as a:
-watchdog
-forum for public opinion
-important informer


Of course, the group was divided on the first one. I was noty so sanguine about the media being a watchdog. After observing from both inside and outside the industry, my views have changed.

We are at the mercy of the media sometimes. We are not sure whether to believe a particular quote or statistic or report. Can't take anything at face value, can we?

Another debate for next week - Are jeans, Coca-Cola and Baywatch America's real cultural representatives?

Maybe they're not. Then what is America's real culture? And how well as the media (both American and non-American) projected it?

According to Mark Glaser, these are the most influential blogs on the web.

No surprises there.