Trump and the Press, Genesis, Mayan Apocalypse, News Satire

Guest: RonNell Anderson Jones, Professor of Law, University of Utah; Lisa Grow Sun, Professor of Law, BYU

Guest: Mark Z. Christensen, Professor of History, Assumption College in Massachusetts, translator of “The Teabo Manuscript” Several years ago, a BYU alum who now teaches history at Assumption College in Massachusetts went digging in some dusty boxes housed in BYU’s Special Collections library and came up with a whopper of a find.  It’s a rare and mysterious 44-page booklet that dates back centuries and comes from a Mayan town on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico called Teabo. The booklet talks about the creation of the world, the mission of Jesus Christ and the Apocalypse. How’s that for intriguing?  Check out the Teabo Manuscript here.

Guest: Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, PhD, Professor of Communications, Ohio State University, author of “Choice and Preference in Media Use” Satirical news is having a heyday with Donald Trump’s presidency. Saturday Night Live’s spoofs of the President and his cabinet have become pop culture phenomena. Stephen Colbert – who struggled to get his footing when he made the leap from Comedy Central to the Late Show on CBS – is now surging in the late-night ratings, thanks to his news-heavy take on comedy. Does satire about the news just make us laugh? Or does it actually affect our views on politics? Our willingness to get engaged in the political process?

Guest: Kevin Guskiewicz, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2011 MacArthur Fellow After years of research into a devastating brain disease called CTE “chronic traumatic encephalopathy,” the NFL last year acknowledged its connection with concussions and settled a class-action lawsuit brought by retired players who accuse the league of not warning players and hiding the damages of brain injury.  This new awareness has led the NFL to change some of its rules and it’s also given rise to calls for tackle football to be prohibited in kids and teenagers.

Guest: Anthony Klotz, PhD, Assistant Professor of Management, College of Business, Oregon State University There’s more than one way to quit a job, it turns out. At least seven ways, in fact. The most common is a fairly amicable parting of ways. But research conducted by Oregon State University management professor Anthony Klotz finds it’s surprisingly common for people to quit in dramatic fashion – even calling the boss names and torching all good will on the way out.  Given how common it is for people to quit these days – hardly anybody stays at the same job their entire career anymore – Klotz and his colleagues say it’s important to understand how people resign and what effect their chosen method has on the company they leave behind.

Guest: Thomas Morris, PhD, Professor in Department of Geological Sciences, BYU