Ken Loach’s film, Sorry We Missed You, tells the harrowing tale of Ricky, Abby and their family’s attempts to get by in a precarious world of low paid jobs and the so-called “gig economy”. But how realistic is it? Can Loach’s film be accused of undue pessimism? After all, UK government ministers have applauded the...
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Cynical Social Media Voices Can Erode Trust in News Media
Amid rising concerns about low public trust in mainstream media institutions, a Rutgers study found that real-life and online social interactions can strongly influence a person’s trust in newspaper, TV and online journalism – but when it comes to online interactions, cynical views are the most influential. The study, published in the Journal of Communication, surveyed...
‘Joker’ Fans Flocking to a Bronx Stairway Highlights Tension of Media Tourism
New York’s newest tourist attraction isn’t a museum, park or art installation. It’s a stairway. Sandwiched between apartment buildings in the Bronx, it’s been dubbed by moviegoers the “Joker Stairs,” earning its name and fame after being featured prominently in “Joker.” Since the film’s release, fans have flocked to the stairs, where they’ve been posing...
Drunk and Stoned… and On Instagram
Once upon a time you could become drunk and afterward, people might gossip about your oafish escapades but it more or less stopped there, unless you broke a law. Or you got stoned and did clumsy, stupid things, but the news didn’t travel too far. Perhaps a few photographs would be shared, especially if you...
How Julep Went from the “Fastest Growing Omnichannel Beauty Brand” to Bankruptcy
In less than 10 years, Julep raised over $70 million from major venture capital firms and the likes of Jay Z, created a cult following of consumers itching to buy the 300 different beauty products it was introducing each year, launched a monthly subscription beauty box, amassed sales that tripled during some fiscal years, and...
With a Rise in Lab-Grown Diamonds, Disclosure and Questions of Value Become Hot Topics
A new group of diamonds stands out as being more perfect than almost all others in the $14 billion diamond market. They are completely colorless – making them, in the eyes of the Gemological Institute of America, among just 2 percent of the diamonds in the world. They are almost or entirely devoid of impurities,...
After 20 Years in Business, Zac Posen Shutters Eponymous Label
Zac Posen is shuttering his label, the brand confirmed on Friday. An announcement from the label’s owners, House of Z and Z Spoke that came on Friday evening revealed that the company – which had been in midst of a sale process since this spring with Yucaipa Cos., with the Ron Burkle-led investment firm that...
Failure Prognosis: Data Science Predicts Which Failures Will Ultimately Succeed
Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first job in television. Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school multiple times, and Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school’s varsity basketball team. Stories like these fuel motivational mantras about learning from failure and coming out stronger on the other side. But little research has been done to...
Study Finds Racial Disparities in Culturally Competent Cancer Care
Many non-white minority cancer survivors place importance on seeing doctors who share or understand their culture, but are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to be able to see such physicians, according to a new study from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and University of Texas Southwestern. The study, which is one of the first nationally-representative studies to...
Study Considers Double-Edged Sword of Trust in Regulatory Agencies’ Monitoring of Firms
Governmental and third-party regulatory agencies (e.g., the Securities and Exchange Commission and independent auditing firms) are charged with monitoring firms to guard against behaviors that might have negative consequences for the economy, the environment, or society. This type of monitoring fails when the agents do not detect or report infractions by the firms they oversee....