2023
July
06
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

July 06, 2023
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Ira Porter
Education Writer

Last week, Tennessee State University, a historically Black university in Nashville, announced it would form a hockey team for the 2024-25 season. 

This got me excited. For the record, basketball is my favorite sport. It’s fast-paced and explosive, and entails the most individual creativity while still being a team sport. I confess, I have never played hockey. Yes, I root for my hometown team, the Philadelphia Flyers. But I can’t ice-skate, and I’m mystified by the body mechanics behind the slap shots that send a puck rocketing toward the net, a perfect 6 inches off the ice.

On television, hockey looks fun. But my excitement about the Tennessee State announcement comes from seeing the school glow up. Adding a hockey team will attract students who might not have otherwise considered the university. And as the first HBCU to offer hockey, Tennessee State could be a game-changer. Others might follow suit.

The program will start modestly – as a club team the first two years – in the hopes of building something lasting. “We’re just trying to change the world,” says Nick Guerriero, assistant athletic director for communications. “No one has done what we’re about to do.” 

This decision didn’t just pop into the administration’s mind. Tennessee State has a relationship with the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators, and it did a feasibility study with College Hockey Inc., an organization that seeks to grow collegiate hockey. The move could generate new revenue, and there will eventually be new scholarships. 

A 2022 USA Today report found that the NHL is 93% white, with only 54 players from minority groups. But Black people like hockey, too. Tennessee State might just be about to show everyone how much.


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Today's stories

And why we wrote them

The reach and scope of legal sports betting are setting records after the Supreme Court struck down a ban. As the activity expands, so does addiction – and the question of whose responsibility it is to combat it. 

Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Programme
Surveyors look at the ceiling of the House of Commons debating chamber in the British Parliament building, which lawmakers warn is at risk of a catastrophic event after decades of poor maintenance, in London.

The British Houses of Parliament, one of the world’s most recognizable buildings, is falling apart. But can legislators decide how to renovate it?

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Delayed travelers wait for air traffic to resume at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, June 30, 2023.

Travelers are facing waves of cancellations and delays as air travel surges. Behind the short-term inconveniences are larger staffing and technology challenges. 

Fatma Fahmy/Reuters
Salah Abdel-Hay Fathallah, a retired assistant professor in art education at the University of Kordofan, holds an artwork at his rented house in Cairo, May 30, 2023. Along with other artists, he fled a war raging in Sudan, leaving behind more than 100 large canvases.

Creativity can be used to tell important stories in critical moments of history. Art lovers are fundraising to help Sudanese artists, uprooted and thrown into crisis by the war.

Points of Progress

What's going right

Our progress roundup includes a science story from Australia, where elders co-authored research that incorporated their Indigenous expertise. And in news that would make Ben Franklin take notice, engineers discovered a secret to harvesting energy from humid air: very, very tiny holes.


The Monitor's View

On Tuesday, a federal judge barred the Biden administration from contacting social media companies to persuade or coerce them into deleting content containing “protected free speech” from their platforms. The case, which will likely land at the Supreme Court, reflects a rising desperation among democracies to counter online disinformation and misinformation.

In clear emergencies, government jawboning of firms like Instagram to stop spreading lies may be constitutional. Yet for everyday instances of falsehoods parading as facts, many places are instead now tapping into the inherent honesty and truth-seeking of citizens – through media literacy campaigns.

In January, for example, New Jersey began to implement a new law that explicitly requires media literacy instruction in K-12 classrooms. In both its bipartisan support and the scope of teaching digital defenses, the law has become the leading model for other states trying to educate children and teens in how to detect accurate information with critical thinking skills. This citizen-centric approach to achieving digital competency assumes that citizens have a civic duty to embrace the truth as media consumers and creators.

In many countries, the effort has expanded to adults, especially to older people. Perhaps the most advanced country in teaching media literacy is Estonia. In a survey last year of 41 democracies, mainly in Europe, the tiny Baltic nation ranked first in this type of specialized education. Since 2007, when it suffered a massive cyberattack – presumably from Russia – it has been an innovator in helping citizens be at the vanguard of discerning facts and countering disinformation. Last year, for example, the government created a card game called Smarter Than a Troll to develop young people’s media literacy.

The survey, conducted by the Open Society Institute in Bulgaria, took measure of each country’s “resilience potential to fake news with better education, free media and higher trust between people.” Overall Finland ranks highest. Yet among former Soviet states, Estonia was first, and in media education, it was tops.

“If plucky little Estonia can do it ... I think the United States should be able to implement a similar program to great success as well,” says Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation expert at the Wilson Center.

As the court case in the U.S. illustrates, regulation of social media in a free society can be cumbersome and contentious. While government action could sometimes be necessary, the survey concluded, “education is the necessary, but long road.”


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

When we actively strive to know and share the blessings God imparts to all His children, healing inspiration naturally comes to light.


Viewfinder

Alvaro Barrientos/AP
Revelers raise their arms as a band plays in the town hall square after the launch of the Chupinazo rocket to mark the official opening of the 2023 San Fermín fiestas in Pamplona, Spain, July 6. The weeklong festival includes the famous running of the bulls, and its origins date back to medieval times.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

We’re so glad you could join us today. Tomorrow, we’ll look back at the recently concluded United States Supreme Court term to examine the deeper trends that came to the surface – and could guide the court in the future.

More issues

2023
July
06
Thursday

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