Ch.1: Mass Communication: A Critical Approach
Definitions of culture, mass media and mass communication (p.6)
-Culture: the ways in which people live and represent themselves at particular historical times. The symbols of expression that individuals, groups, and societies use to make sense of daily life and to articulate their values.
-Mass Media: the culture industries—the channels of communication—that produce and distribute songs, novels, newspapers, movies, internet services and other culture products to large numbers of people
-Mass Communication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old as the printed book and as new as the internet.
Importance of the printing press (p.7) -Johanna Guttenberg
-printing press in germany ushered the Modern print era -spread rapidly across Europe in late 1400s early 1500s
- with the printing press it made printed things available and affordable to more people. -books=first mass market products in history
-3 elements necessary for mass market:
1. machine duplication (replaced tedious hand scribed systems) 2. Duplication could be done rapidly (large quantities of the same book could be produced) 3. The faster the production of multiple copies bought down the costs of each unit, which made books more affordable to less affluent people.
-spread information and ideas faster and farther-> writers could use views to disseminate views counter to traditional civic doctrine and religious authority ex: protestant revolution and increase of modern nationalism
-print era: more centralized nation-states instead of decentralized local governments. - led to the industrial revolution, modern capitalism and rise of consumer culture in the 20th
century
-industrial revolution=rise in middle class, elite business class owners and managers -encouraged compulsory education and promoted literacy
-nourished the idea of individualism->less rely on local community and religious leaders for help -individualism: ride of commerce and increase resistance to government interference in the affairs of self-reliant entrepreneurs.
Media Convergence (p.9)
-electronic and digital eras=media convergence
-technological merging of content in different mass media (ex: magazine articles and radio programs are accessible on the internet, songs, tv shows and movies are now available on ipods and cell phones.
-cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone series, tv transmissions, and interned access under one corporate umbrella.
-a media corporation employing he convergence model can use fewer employees to generate multiple versions of the same story: company needs fewer reporters, producers an editors. -ultimately fewer stories are generated from fewer perspectives, which means that consumers have less choice in news coverage.
-convergence business model: more profits to those companies that downsize.or ocnverge their workforce while increasing their media holdings in many markets.
-stories are told from owners’ biases and interests.
The linear model of mass communication and criticisms of this model (p.10)
-gatekeepers: (news editors, executive producers, and other media managers) function as message filters. Make decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular audiences
-feedback: citizens could return messages to senders or gate keepers through letters to the editor, pone calls, email, web postings, or talk shows.
-problem: in reality media messages do not usually move smoothly from a sender at point a to a receiver at point b. words and images spill into eachother criss-cross. Senders have little control of how their intended messages are decoded or whether the messages are ignores or misread by readers and viewers.
Culture as a skyscraper (p.16) -culture as a hierarchy
-top floors=high culture=ballet, the symphony, art museums, and class literature. Good taste, higher education, support by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, fine art.
-bottom floors=low culture= soap operas, rock music, radio shock jocks, video games.
Commercial junk, questionable tastes in the masses, reality tv, celeb gossip websites, and action films.
5 areas of concern about low culture: 1. Inability to appreciate fine art, 2. Exploiting high culture 3. A throw-away ethic 4. A diminished audience for high culture 5. Inhibiting political discourse and social change.
Tendencies in “postmodern” culture (p.25)
-changed occurring in the contemporary or post modern period from mid 20th century to today ex:
music video, remote controls, nike ads, shopping malls, fax machines, email, video games, USA today.
-term describing a contemporary historical era spanning the 1960s to the present; its social values include opposing hierarchy, diversifying and recycling culture, questioning scientific reasoning and embracing paradox.
-critics argue post modern culture=represents a way of seeing a new condition or even a malady of the human spirit.
-increasingly pivotal roles in our daily lives Four Major Features:
1. Populism: appeals to ordinary people by highlighting or setting up a conflict between “the people” and “the elite”
2. Diversity 3. nostalgia 4. paradox
Definition/understanding of Media Literacy (p.28)
-media literacy attaining knowledge and understanding of mass media. Follows a critical process that takes us through the steps: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation engagement (refer to text book)
Ch. 5: Television and the Power of Visual Culture
What have been the debates about television’s positive versus negative impact? *****checkkkkkkk text book p 151
Quiz Show scandals and their impact -quiz shows=cheap to produce
-inexpensive sets and nonactors as guests -problem=rigged
-key contestants were rehearsed and given the answers bc producers or sponsors wanted to get rid of guests they did not find appealing
IMPACT:
-sponsors pressure on TV executives to rig the proms and the subsequent fraud effectively put and end to any role sponsors might have in creating television content
- the fraud tended to undermine Americans expectation of the democratic promise of television-to bring inexpensive information and entertainment to every house hold
- many people trusted their tvs
-scandals=first dramatic indication that TV images could be manipulated. Criticism of electronics began in this time.
-magnified the separation between the privileged few and the general public, division between “high” and “low” cultures that would keep quiz shows out of prime time for 40 years.
-after scandal…nonnetowrk, nonprimetime, independently produced programs eventually made a come back but in late afternoon spots and later on cable channels.
Rise of TV News (p.154)
-broadcast journalism=topped print news, most people think it is more trustworthy.
-tv has an ability to create loyalty with viewers who connect personally with the news anchors -print editors seem anonymous
-affiliate stations: stations that contract with a network to carry its programs *******check text book for more info
TV genres: situation comedy, domestic comedy, anthology dramas, chapter shows, serial programs
-situation comedy: a type of comedy series that feature a recurring cast and set as well as several narrative scenes; each episode establishes a situation, complicates it, develops increasing confusion among its characters and then resolves the complications.
-domestic comedy: a tv hybrid of the sitcom in which characters and settings are usually more important than complicated situations; it generally features a domestic problem or work issue that characters have to solve.
-anthology dramas: a popular form of early TV programming that bought live dramatic theater to television; influenced by stage plays, anthologies offered new teleplays, casts, directors, writers and sets from week to week.
-chapter shows: in television production, any situation comedy or dramatic program whose narrative structure includes self-contained stories tht feature a problem, a series of conflicts, and resolution from week to week.
serial programs: a radio or tv program, such as soap operas, that feature a continuing story limes from day to day or week to week.
Causes for decline of the network era—independent stations, VCRs and time shifting, Tivo and other “black box” technologies, cable (p.165-166)
-VCRs: recorders that use a half inch format known as VHS which enables viewers to record and play back programs for television or to watch movies rented from video stores.
-independent stations: a tv station, such as WGN in Chicago or WTBS in Atlanta, that finds its own original and syndicated programming and is not affiliated with any of the major networks. (not affiliated with the network)
-new technologies reduced network control : arrival of communication satellite services for cable televison and home video market
-time shifting: occurs when viewers record shows and watch it at a later more convenient time. This produces complex audience measurement problems. Time shifts has made it possible to avoid ads all together. Time shifting and movie rentals have shook the tv industry.
-DVRs (digital video recorders): enables users to download specific shows onto the DVRs computer memory. Can seek out specific shows or even type of shows that appear on any channel. DVR gives info bout what is viewed in each household and alters the ways in which tv ratings are compiled.
Fin-syn rules (p. 167)
-(financial interest and syndicated rules)
-FCC rules that prohibited the major networks from running their syndication companies or from charging production companies additional fees after shows had completed their prime time runs; most fin-syn rules were rescinded in the mid-1990s
-in 1970- “constituted the most damaging attacks against the network TV monopoly in FCC history.”
Targeting the youth market (p.168)
-main strategy targets minority and young viewers Rating/share
-Rating: in TV audience measurement, a statistical estimate expressed as a percentage of household tuned to a program in the local or national market being sampled
-Share: in TV audience measurement, a statistical estimate of the percentage of homes tuned to a certain program, compared with those simply using their sets at the time of a sample. Over the years has become increasingly important. Shares a good measures during fringe time, when most sets would normally be turned off
Ch. 6: Cable and the Specialization of Television
Evolution of cable TV( p 185)
-tv dealers and electronics firms built antennas relay towers on the outskirts of communities to pick up blocked signals. They strung wires from utility poles and then ran cables from the towers into the individual homes. The cables created market for tv reception
-cable and broadcasting distinction: cable programs reach tv sets through signals transmitted via wire, broadcasting signals are transmitted over the air
-advantage of cable: the airwaves in any given community can only accommodate only about 15 channels without electrical interference but cable wires can transit hundreds of channels with no interference
-CATV (community antenna television)
Must-carry rules
-rules established by the FCC requiring all cable operators to assign channels to and carry all local TV broadcasters on their system, thereby ensuring that local network affiliates, independent stations (those not carrying network programs), and public television channels would benefit from cable’s clearer reception
-allowed additon noncommercial channels to be introduced into bigger TV markets
-in order to protect regional tv stations and their local advertising, the guidelines limited the number of distant commercial TV signals to two or three independent stations per cable systems. -guidelines prohibited cable companies from bringing in a network affiliate from another city when a local station already carried that networks programming.
-first established in 1965 and reaffirmed in 1972.
Access Channels
-in cable television, a tier of nonbroadcast channels dedicated to local education, government and the public.
-in 1972 the FCC mandated access channels in the nations top one hundred TV markets , required cable systems their own original programming.
-fcc required large market cable companies to assign separate channels for each access service, cable operators in smaller markets could require education, government and public to share one channel
-Fcc called for leased channels. -> citizens could buy time on these channels and produce their own programs or present controversial issues.
-telecommunications act of 1996: the sweeping update of telecommunications law that led to a wave of media consolidation
********read page 191
Narrowcasting
-any specialized electronic programming or media channel aimed at a target audience Influence of CNN
******read page 195-196
MTV’s business strategies—exclusive rights to videos, launching VH1, development of programming beyond music videos
****page 197
Rise of DBS
DBS: a satellite based service that for a monthly fee downlinks hundred of satellite channels and services; they began distributing video programming directly to households in 1994.
******read page 201
Ch. 13: Media Economics and the Global Marketplace
Monopoly/Oligopoly (p. 409)
Monopoly: occurs when a single firm dominates production and distribution in a particular industry either nationally or locally. Ex: national level=AT&T, local level= any place with one news paper or one cable company
Oligopoly: just a few firms dominate the industry. Ex: book publishing and feature film industry are both oligopolies (only having few players that control a majority of the production and distribution in the industry)
Telecommunications Act of 1996 and deregulation (p. 414) Telecommunications Act of 1996
-under president Clinton
-lifted most restrictions on how many radio and tv stations one corporation could own. -act welcomed seven powerful regional telephone companies into the cable business. -deregulation=suggested that markets can take care of themselves with little government interference.
Consolidation and Media mergers (p. 415) *****look at text book
“Synergy” (p. 422)
-refers to the promotion and sale of different versions of a media product across the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate (ex: a time warner HBO cable special about “the making of” a warner brothers movie in a Time magazine)
-refers to global companies like sony buying up popular culture—movie studios and record labels —to play on its various electronic players
-default business mode of most companies
Cultural Imperialism (p. 429)
-the phenomenon of American media, fashion and food dominating the global market and shaping the cultures.
Marconi, wireless telegraphy, evolution to radio
-marconi: understood that developing way to send high-speed messages over great distances would transform communication, the military, and commercial shipping.
-wireless telegraphy: the forerunner of radio a form of wireless point to point communication; it preceeded the voice and sound transmissions of one to many mass communication that became known as broadcasting.
****text book page 110-112
Electromagnetic spectrum
-electromagnetic waves: invisible electronic impulses similar to visible light. Maxwell’s equations showed that electiricty, magnetism, light, and heat are part of the same electromagnetic spectrum and radiate in space at the speed of light about 186000 miles per second. Maxwell further theorized that radio waves could be harnessed so that signals sent from transmission point to reception point.
Radio Act of 1912—why important?
-the first radio legislation passed by Congress, it addressed the problem of amateur radio operators increasingly cramming the airwaves
-broadcasting is a natural resource (interstate commerce). This meant that radio waves could not be owned, they were a collective property of all Americans. Therefore, transmitting on radio waves, would require licensing
-radio is a benefit to society.
Radio Corporation of America—RCA
-a company developed during World War I that was designed, with government approval, to pool radio patents; the formation of RCA gave the United States almost total control over the emerging mass medium of broadcasting.
Network
-a broadcast process that links, through special phone lines, or satellite transmissions, groups of radio or TV stations that share programming produced at a central location
-a network enables stations to control program costs and avoid unnecessary duplications.
David Sarnoff, William Paley
David Sarnoff: the first lasting network of radio stations, NBC is created in 1926. Connected by AT&T long lines, the network broadcasts programs nationally and plays a prominent role in unifying the county (p.118)
William Paley: CBS is founded in 1928 and becomes a competitor to NBC bought a controlling interest in CBS to sponsor their cigar brand. One of Paleys first moves was to polish the networks image (p. 119)
Radio Act of 1927—why important?
-the second radio legislation passed by Congress; in an attempt to restore order to the airwaves, it states that licensees did not own their channels but could license them as long as they operated in order to serve the “public interest, convenience, or necessity.”
Federal Communications Act of 1934, the FCC
-Federal Communications Act of 1934: the far-reaching act that established the FCC and the federal regulatory structure for the US broadcasting
after intense lobbying by the radio industry, congress passed this act allowing commercial interests to control airwaves (p. 120)
-FCC: an independent US government agency charged with regulating interstate and international communication by radio television, wire, satellite, and cable.
Importance of Amos ‘n’ Andy
-based on the conventions of the nineteenth century minstrel show and feature black characters stereotyped as shiftless and stupid. Created as blackface stage act by two white comedians. -program considered racist
-launched the idea of a serial show: a program that featured a continuing story line from one day to another.
War of the Worlds
-H.G. Wells on the radio series mercury theater of the air. Orson Wells produced, hosted and acted in this popular series which adapted science fiction, mystery and historical adventure dramas for the radio. Program created panic and lasted several hours.
Difference between AM and FM
AM:amplitude modulation; a type of radio and sound transmission that stresses the volume or height of radio waves
FM: frequency modulation; a type of radio and sound transmission that offers static-less reception and greater fidelity and clarity than AM radio by accentuating the pitch or distance between radio waves
Rise of format radio; rotation; different formats today
Format Radio: the concept of radio stations developing and playing specific styles (or formats) geared to listener’s age, race or gender; in format radio, management, rather than deejays and executive branches controls programming choices
Rotation: in format radio programming, the practice of playing the most popular or best-selling songs many times throughout the day
****text book page 126
Payola
-the unethical (but not always illegal) practice of a record promoters paying deejays or radio programmers to favor particular songs over others.
Impact of Telecommunications Act of 1996 on ownership of radio stations
Telecommunications Act of 1996: this law effects rapid unprecedented consolidation in radio ownership across the United States. (P137)
Clear Channel *** page 137-138
NPR/Pacifica
-NPR: noncommercial radio established in 1967 by the US congress to provide an alternative to commercial radio
-Pacifica: a radio broadcasting foundation established in Berkley, California, by journalist and World War II pacifist Lewis Hill; he established KPFA, the first nonprofit community radio station in 1949
Low power FM
- a new class of noncommercial radio stations approved by the FCC in 2000 to give voice Chapter 11: Advertising
How do ads promote social change and dictate values? ******PAGE 345-350
Who regulates advertising?
-several watchdog organizations. Keep tabs on deceptive advertising -subliminal advertising
What is VALS? Who are the types in the VALS network? -1978 Stanford Research Institute
-values and life styles strategy. Using questionnaires, VALS researchers measures psychological factors and divided consumers into types. VALS research assumes that not every product suits every consumer and encourages advertisers to vary their sales slants to find market niches. -VALS system has been updated to reflect changes in consumer orientations
-most recent systems classified people by their primary motivations: ideals, achievement or self expression.
Agencies and clients (auto manufacturers) relyheavily on VALS to determine the best placement for the ads.
-VALS TYPES: innovators, thinkers, achievers, experiencers, believers, strivers, makers, survivors (*****PAGE 356)
What are conventional persuasive strategies? ***look at page 360
What is the association principle?
Association principle: a persuasive technique used in most consumer ads that associates a product with a positive cultural value or image even if it has little connect to the product.
What is advertising’s threat to journalism? *****page 363
How has advertising affected politics? ****PAGE 366
Chapter 15: Media Effects
Payne Studies (p. 471-472) -1929-1932
-response to a growing national concern about the effects of motion pictures which had become particularly popular pastitme for young people in the 1920s
-these studies were later used by some politicians to attack the movie industry and linked frequent movie attendance to juvenile delinquency, promiscuity and other antisocial behaviors, arguing that movies took “emotional possession: of young teenagers
Proprietary Research -private research
-generally conducted for a business, corporation or even political campaign
-usually applied to research in the sense that the information it uncovers typically addresses some real life problem or need.
Findings of the National Television Violence Study ****PAGE 473
Hypodermic Needle Model
-an early model in mass communication research that attempted to explain media effects by arguing that the media shoot their powerful effects directly into unsuspecting or weak audience; sometimes called the bullet theory or direct effects model
Selective Exposure/Selective Retention
-Selective Exposure: the phenomenon whereby audiences seek messages and meaning that correspond to their preexisting beliefs and values.
Uses and Gratifications Model
-a mass communication research model, usually employing in-depth interviews and survey questionnaires, that argues that people use the media to satisfy various emotional desires or intellectual needs.
Content Analysis
-in social science research, a method for studying and coding media texts and programs.
Agenda Setting
-a media research argument that says that when the mass media pay attention to particular events or issues, they determine—that is, set the agenda for—the major topics of discussion for individuals and society.
Cultivation Effect
-in media research, the idea that heavy television viewing leads to individuals to perceive reality in ways consistent with the portrayals they see on tv.
Cultural Studies Approaches to Media Research *****page 483
Textual Analysis
