Mitt Romney's cautious and feeble answer to a question about Rush Limbaugh's misogynous tirade against Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke earlier this month might have an unintended positive effect: it is already serving as a case study for educators who teach the "bystander" approach to sexual and domestic violence prevention.

As the campaign moves to New Hampshire, Mitt Romney is getting free advice on how to reach blue-collar Republicans from conservative talk radio host Howie Carr, a long-time fixture in New England media and politics who specializes in selling the party of the rich to the white working-class....

There were two distinct Ronald Reagans being channeled onstage at the GOP debate in Des Moines, Iowa on December 10. The problem for Mitt Romney is that for reasons of both political miscalculation and personal temperament, he chose the wrong one.

For years, Romney has been trying...

At least one positive development has emerged from the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. In news and commentary about that tragic case, the victims are actually being referred to as "victims." While it's easy to find references to "Jerry Sandusky's accusers," it is perhaps equally as likely to read and...

Blogger's note: This is the second part of a two-part interview I conducted with USC sociologist Michael Messner, whose memoir King of the Wild Suburb: a memoir of fathers, sons and guns, was published recently by Plain View Press. Click here for Part 1.

JK:...

Guns are in the news every day in our society. They're the weapon of choice in countless "routine" homicides and mass murders. Motorcycle gang shootouts. Armed robberies. School shootings. Domestic violence rampages. Guns are a staple of our entertainment culture, a critical part of the story line in a seemingly...

Can we please stop referring to Nafissatou Diallo as DSK's "accuser?" She is his alleged victim. Every time someone calls her an "accuser" they undermine her credibility and bolster his. And it's not just sexist men who are doing this. Even some feminists and victim advocates have started using the...

If journalism is the first draft of history, then talk radio provides an early glimpse into how the meaning of political events will be spun for ideological and partisan purposes. In particular, conservative talk radio is a good place to go if you want a fast-breaking take on what the...

This coming Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has the chance to win his third Super Bowl and join a truly elite group of NFL quarterbacks. This historic opportunity comes at the end of a season that began with him serving a four-game suspension by the National Football League for...

A consensus seems to have developed that some in media precipitously and inaccurately blamed violent rhetoric from the right for the shooting in Tucson on January 8. But whether or not they were misled in this instance by what turns out to be false reports about the shooter's political motivations,...

Three decades after his tragic death in New York City at age forty, John Lennon retains quite a grip on our cultural imagination. He has been the subject of countless biographies, magazine articles, and documentaries. In November, a BBC Masterpiece Theater special explored his final days with the Beatles; and...

It is mind-boggling that the voters of Connecticut would even consider electing the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment to high political office -- until you realize what an abysmal job the news media have done of holding her accountable for the actual product she produced.

Make no mistake...

There has been precious little critical debate or dialogue about pornography in mainstream media, which is quite striking when you consider what a ubiquitous and influential cultural phenomenon it is. Feminist perspectives critical of the pornography industry rarely get any air time in the corporate media, much less a thoughtful...

Anti-rape educators around the world have Mel Gibson to thank for providing them with a truly global teachable moment in the wake of his violent, misogynist, racist tirade against his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. In the audiotape of the angry rant that has been replayed endlessly on cable TV and the...

The Tiger Woods sex scandal has been a boon to the tabloids, cable TV and radio talk shows, not to mention late night comics, bloggers and untold others in media. Infidelity, sex addiction, compulsive behavior, and the perils of fame have been dissected and discussed, but one sociologically notable aspect...

Rush Limbaugh's critics have long noted the factual errors and tortured logic that are regular features of his radio program. Not surprisingly, little has changed over the past few months as he has put his stamp on the health care debate. But Limbaugh does not only distort arguments about complex...

News coverage of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to Africa provides useful examples of how power and privilege play out in the 24/7 media environment. By many accounts the trip was a big success. Clinton achieved one of her central goals: to bring international media attention to African...

Eminem is back and once again looming large over the pop cultural landscape. On the occasion of the release of his new album, Relapse, his full-length, full-color image appears literally larger than life on billboards in major cities from New York to Los Angeles, not to mention cities all over...

Identity politics is back on the front page, now that John McCain has picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. This surprising new development in a long and tumultuous campaign is all the more notable because Republicans have traditionally criticized Democrats for playing the politics of race...

The following is a conversation between the philosopher Douglas Kellner and cultural critic Jackson Katz about school shootings and the crisis in masculinities.

Douglas Kellner is George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA and author of Guys and Guns Amok, recently published by Paradigm Press....