Wikipedia is big news in college, Texas textbooks go the way of toilet paper and the NPR strike we never saw coming.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

More than half of college students frequently or always consult Wikipedia for course-related research, according to a report published in First Monday, an online, peer-reviewed journal.

U.S.-Israel rift undermining some long-standing taboos
The remarkable tensions of the last week make it increasingly difficult to deny key facts.

As Texas textbooks go, so goes the nation’s education?
Conservatives on the Texas Board of Education have approved a series of major changes to the state’s social studies curriculum. The new curriculum stresses the superiority of American capitalism, questions the separation of church and state, and presents Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.

NPR Union busting?
Gusting winds and drizzling rain failed to dampen the spirits of dozens of broadcast technicians and audio engineers at National Public Radio who walked the picket line at noon yesterday chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, union busting has got to go” in front of NPR’s Massachusetts Avenue headquarters.