It seems anyone heard uttering "Mickey Mouse", "waste of time" or "dossers' degrees" anywhere near a media studies department will now elicit no more than a fleeting look of disdain. Academics at a conference hosted by the Media Communications and Cultural Studies Association and the Association of Media Practice Educators last week barely looked up when they heard the dirty words. One professor concluded that the criticism from "eminent journalists" in the bad old Mickey Mouse days was merely a case of sour grapes among those who didn't know their blogs from their Big Brother .