Mass Communication Final

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising, or advertising on the web, has increasingly become the go-to choice for companies, organizations, institutions and individuals to promote their good or themselves to audiences worldwide. Advertising through digital channels has become so ubiquitous that audiences are sometimes not even aware of the fact that they are being sold to through paid advertising.

Restoring Faith in the Media

Radical transparency -- Shed more light on the process, letting viewers and readers know where and how information was collected or obtained, reported upon and disseminated. Make clear what is fact-based reporting vs. what is someone sharing an opinion. Reveal conflicts of interest and stop reporting on and promoting brands, people or institutions in which those conflicts exist (i.e. - Good Morning America, an ABC Disney company, doing a five-minute "news" segment on the latest Disney film, interviewing the movie's stars.) Employing more journalists that better reflect the make up of society. Newsrooms are notoriously white and male, though great strides have been made in the last year since much light has been shed on the racial inequities that exist in so many segments of society and industries, like the media. Social Media companies and online services should disclose more details about how they used algorithms to determine what type of information to feed us, and what role advertisers play in influencing those decisions. Revitalize Civics Courses in Schools - Consumers need to be more media literate, better understanding how the news works, and what is getting passed off as "news." More disinterested financial support for media outlets - Because most media companies are private, profit-driven enterprises, the products they deliver is also expected to be profitable, thereby encouraging "click-bait" type news that will draw the most public attention. More financial support from the public, from foundations, and even from the government (with no strings attached) could help remove that profit-motivated thinking. Encourage more civic dialogue - Media outlets are supposed to serve as the public forum or public square for exchanging ideas, but too often the leaders of these outlets hide behind their corporate walls. Creating a space - physical and virtual - for a healthy exchange of ideas can only help bring disparate sides together.

Senders

authors, producers, organizations

important Milestones in the History of Newspapers in America -

1690 - The first North American newspaper is published, in Boston, called, appropriately Publick Occurrences 1734-35 - The precedent for libel and press freedom is established with the case of John Peter Zenger, who was arrested for publishing materials critical of the British government, and then freed when a court upheld his right to be critical of government leaders. 1827 - First African American newspaper, Freedom's Journal, begins publishing. The paper only lasted two years, but it set a pattern for more than 5,500 papers that would be edited or started by African Americans, and would address inequities and other race-related issues in our country. 1828 - First Native American paper, the Cherokee Phoenix, is published in Georgia 1830s-50s - The Penny Press Era cements newspapers as Mass Media -- Prominent newspaper publishers in major cities like NYC become highly competitive and decide to slash the price of a paper to just one cent, hoping to win over readers. Papers like the New York Sun and the New York Morning Herald also try to outdo each other with stories that focus on human travails. 1848 - Six New York newspapers form a cooperative to share news, thereby founding the Associated Press. This "wire service" - so called because it originally transmitted its stories over telegraph lines - continues to provide news to thousands of media organizations throughout the world. 1880s-1920s - The Rise of Yellow Journalism and investigative reporting -- The name is associated with scandalous and less than truthful news, a term that is still used today. It dates back to another highly competitive period in the world of journalism, at the turn of the 19th to 20th Centuries. Newspaper magnates like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were determined to dominate the distribution of news and information in the cities where they published newspaper, like New York and San Francisco. Named after a cartoon strip featuring the "Yellow Kid" the news that constituted Yellow Journalism combined exaggerated or scandalous stories with what would be the start of real investigative journalism. Crusading reporters like Nellie Bly were determined to root out and report upon corruption in government, politics and institutions. They earned the nickname "muckrakers" by Former President Teddy Roosevelt. 1896 - The New York Times is bought by Adolph Ochs and is transformed into what we now consider the start of the modern era of journalism, producing the pinnacle of print coverage and earning the label as "the paper of record." Soon after the Times would adopt the motto: "All the News that's Fit to Print." 1955- First Underground newspaper, The Village Voice, begins publishing in NYC's Greenwich Village, providing a space for alternate voices, literary non-fiction and counter-culture perspectives. 1972-74 - The Washington Post's coverage of the Republican party's break in to Democratic offices at the Watergate Hotel blow the lid off the federal government and lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. 1980 - First paper to go Online - the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio 1982 - Gannett News chain launches USA Today, the first national newspaper, which borrows a page from television news coverage and produces a daily paper that takes a more colorful, less wordy approach to delivering the news. 2009-forward - Newspapers begin feeling the pinch of digital distribution and start to make the move toward online publishing, meanwhile many watch their profits plummet. 2014 - Papers like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times realize the only way they'll survive the digital revolution is to begin charging for the online version of their work. They introduce Pay Walls, which allow readers limited access before they must begin paying to read what these news organizations produce.

Some Television Highlights over the Decades --

1952-54 - Color television becomes available, first as an experiment by CBS, and later improved upon by RCA. Though it wasn't until the mid 1960s that color TV became a sought after option by the consuming public. 1957 - Picking up where radio left off, quiz shows were enjoying a height of popularityin the mid 1950s, until it was revealed that one of the most popular shows, Twenty-One, was rigged. To draw more viewers, and sponsorship dollars, handsome college professor Charles Van Doren was given answers in advance, while the sweaty and less attractive Herb Stempel had to rely on his own wealth of knowledge. Stempel became a whistleblower, and the scandal lead to another round of concerns over the unreliability of this new mass media. 1967 - Driven to support a more educational function and purpose for television, The US Congress passes the Public Broadcasting Act, which in turn establishes the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or what we generally refer to as PBS, which is funded, in part, by taxpayer dollars. One goal was to reach audiences not fully being serviced by commercial television, with a focus on educational programming that appealed to older audiences, as well as early learners. PBS programs like Masterpiece Theater and Frontline would become mainstays for the more mature audiences, while Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Barney would have a profound affect on younger generations. 1975 - HBO begins providing premium (and at times more risqué) programming for a monthly fee. Though cable delivery had been around since the 1960s, it wasn't until the early 1970s that it became a standard format for sending television signals. 1975-75 - Timeshifting begins -- Video cassette recorders hit the market, so viewers no longer have to be in front of the TV set when a show airs. This system would eventually be replace by DVD players, and later by computer-like DVR programming that allows for scheduled downloading of favorite shows. 1980 - Ted Turner launches 24-hour Cable News Network, CNN, initially to provide viewers with round-the-clock coverage of the Gulf War, and later to provide ongoing coverage of Washington politics, international skirmishes, business news, and Hollywood gossip. CNN's success would later be duplicated by FOX-News, MSNBC, ESPN, HLN, and other subject specific stations. 1996 - The Telecommunications Act of 1996 broke down the barriers between different forms of communications. This allowed cable companies to offer telephone services. It allowed phone companies to offer Internet services, It allowed media conglomerates to become even bigger, letting them buy up numerous media properties in the same market, and provide competing - or perhaps monopolistic - programming across multiple channels. 2007-10 - Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu begin offering original programs delivered via the Internet, that can be watched on a variety of devices. This new form of online viewing is sometimes referred to as "The Third Screen." 2014 onward - Consumers do much of their television viewing on "The Fourth Screen" - their smartphones and tablets. 2020 - With the entire world on Covid lockdown, streaming services gain even more ground in delivering both television and movies. Audiences bing their way through series like Netflix's Tiger King or The Queen's Gambit, and what was once office water-cooler talk about these shows moves to online chatter.

Evolutionary Stages

4 stages Emergence Stage - This is the novelty stage when inventors or technicians attempt to birth the innovation, developing prototypes, working out glitches and trying to solve problems that could limit the scope and success of the innovation Entrepreneurial Stage - At this stage, inventors and investors set out to assess the practical use of the innovation, and if it is marketable to the populace Mass Media Stage - This is the breakthough stage, when inventors are ready to go public, having found a way to mass market the new device to the consumer market Convergence Stage - when older media are consumed, reshaped or re-configured into newer forms of media, or using newer media tools to continue to evolve. An example of this would be print newspapers' convergence with digital media, to continue to provide news in a new format, making it accessible to new customers through different channels.

Facing off Against Fake News Today

A Gallup survey in 2020 (Links to an external site.) found that only 9% of the adults surveyed had "a great deal" of trust in the mass media, while 31% said they had "a fair amount" of trust. At the other side of the equation, 27% said they had "not very much" trust, while a record 33% answered "none at all" when it came to trusting mass media. The polling company Gallup has been asking this question of the public since 1972. Trust in the media was highest in the 1970s, when news outlets were seen as saviors, revealing the wrong-doings of politicians like Richard Nixon, and the failed government programs, like the Vietnam War.

Cameras in the Courtroom: Chandler v. Florida (1981)

A Miami Beach jury convicted two men of conspiracy to commit burglary, grand larceny and possession of burglary tools after breaking into a popular local restaurant. The two men were Miami Beach police officers. The officers objected to the media presence, claiming the attention would make a fair trial impossible. However, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the trial court's position of allowing cameras in the courtroom. This decision cleared the way for live courtroom TV shows, as well as the famous live coverage of the O.J Simpson and Rodney King trials.

Market Research

A more commercial application of such public opinion research, this type of of research attempts to better understand consumer tastes and habits, and is particular useful for companies and advertisers thinking about launching new products or ad campaigns. One such market research program is the in-person or online market research panels, where participants get to sample the goods and provide feedback.

Limited Competition -

Also referred to a "Monopolistic Competition," in this structure, there may be many sellers or producers, but they are all more or less offering up the same products, or products with just a slight differential. The differentials may relate to geography, price, style, brand or other less distinctive factors. Think the difference between Pepsi and Coke. In the media world, this limited competition system is present in many radio markets, where more than one state may rely on similar news talk, contemporary hits or country music formats. Though again, in the world of radio, Sinclair Broadcasting is fast becoming the dominant, or Monopoly presence in this media segment.

four tech goliaths

Amazon - Regulators are trying to break up the enormous hold this company has over what we buy and sell online. Not only does Amazon sell its own brands, as well any groceries sold through Whole Foods, which the company purchased in 2017, it also controls the traffic and advertising priorities on its website. The growing advertising portion of Amazon's business accounted for $10 billion in revenues last year. In addition to being the Internet superstore, Amazon produces movies and television shows, competing with both movie studios and streaming services. Apple - This computer and phone behemoth exercises strict controls over the world of phones and Apps, especially for those who use their iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. App developers have accused Apple of abusing their App power by boxing out competitors to the App Store. Apple is also about to enter the world or original content production and streaming. Facebook - The king of social media, and parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp, Facebook holds a nearly monopolistic role in much of what is discussed and shared online. The company has solved the problem of competition by buying up their competitors: In 15 years, the company has bought 70 companies. Facebook has also come under extreme criticism and attempted government crackdown in regards to privacy breaches, disrupting elections through the spread of fake news and inciting violence. Google - The go-to search site, Google handles more than 90 percent of searches worldwide. Once designed to redirect you to links to sites that most closely matched the criteria of what you were looking for, Google has increasingly taken it upon itself to provide the answers itself. By keeping viewers on Google sites, Google in turn reaps all the advertising revenues associated with its sites. The European Union has leveled billions of dollars in fines against Google for this monopolistic practice. Google also owns YouTube, and therefore is the dominant player in the online video market. And like Apple, Google is beginning to experiment in producing original content, through its YouTube channel.

Radio

Americans spend about 4 hours a day, or 26 hours a week listening to some form of radio or audio streaming programming.Radio/audio penetration greater than any other form of media -- 92-94%244 million users compared to other forms of media.Greatest use during weekdays

Oligopoly -

An economic market condition where numerous major players compete to hold a significant or leading within a market segment, seeking to dominate that industry. This somewhat more divided structure can be seen in industries like advertising, where some of the world's biggest agencies like WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Dentsu and Interpublic compete for the largest portion of that pie.

Monopoly -

An economic model where one company dominates the entire market segment. This could be said of companies like Microsoft, which has a firm lock on most computer software, or Comcast, which dominates the cable television market, Google, which controls the information search environment, or even Apple, which hold a dominant position in the worlds of cell phones and computers.

Media Literacy

Another area of scholarly pursuit that has gained new traction in recent years surrounds the topic of Media Literacy. As we are bombarded, often unaware, with so many messages from so many different sources on a daily basis, helping the public understand the motivations and sourcing behind these messages is an important first step in claiming ownership over one's own thoughts and body of knowledge. Like learning a foreign language, one must become fully literate in the language and methods of various mass media entities in order to properly analyze, evaluate and decide whether or not to engage.

Social Psychology Studies

As opposed to public opinion research that measures public attitudes, social psychology studies use tools to measure the behavior and cognitive response of individuals to various stimuli or inputs. One media-related example was the Payne Fund Studies, which from 1929 to 1932 conducted a series of experiments to measure the impact of violent movies on young people's behavior. The study attached electrodes and galvanometers to children's and teens bodies that would measure levels of physical change in response to watching violent films, and equating such response to evidence of emotional arousal. These Payne studies lead to the establishment of the Motion Picture Production Code, limiting some segments of the audience to certain types of films.The discussion about the impact of violent television shows and video games continues to be one that is hotly debated amongst media researchers.

Religious Books -

Best selling book of all times??? The BibleSuccess of Bible laid groundwork for broad network of religious booksSales have grown and shrunk in accordance with nation's belief patternsSome touch on related topics like poverty, war, race, gender and social responsibilityFundamentalist and evangelical literature has maintained a steady baseInspirational books often have a religious-core and are included in this categorySales in 2016 were $22 million

Propaganda Analysis

Both the first and the second World Wars had media researchers examining the persuasive role of governments and public agencies in encouraging citizens to support war efforts and positions. This type of War Propaganda, and the subsequent study of such influences, reached a zenith during World War II, when Hitler was so effective at shaping pro-Nazi sentiments throughout Germany and other parts of Europe. From posters to rallies to speeches, Hitler demanded the attention of the masses, who were willing to follow him down a dubious path due to his increasingly manipulative but highly persuasive communication methods. Beyond war messaging, propaganda is a powerful and often effective tool to shift public opinion. Propaganda succeeds by convincing the masses that particular actions or beliefs are correct, most popular, hold value and are generally most acceptable, often relying on false, spotty or manipulated facts. Communication techniques employed in spreading this type of propaganda include stereotyping, invoking fear, name-calling, false-equivalency, fake testimonial, creating a band-wagon mentality, scapegoating, cherry-picking of facts, misuse of statistics and more.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

History of The Code of Ethics -

Creating such a code became the task of the country's oldest organization dedicated to journalism, The Society of Professional Journalists, which started out as a fraternity, Sigma Delta Chi fraternity at DePauw University in Indiana, which was was chartered in 1909 with an expressed focus on journalism. It wasn't long before the all-male group decided they needed to establish some rules or goals to live by, and in 1926, they came up with a Code of Ethics, borrowing heavily from a document created by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The group would remain a fraternity until 1960, when it would shift toward becoming a professional society, with its name changing to the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi in 1973 (the SDC ending was dropped in 1988.) Women were not admitted to the society until 1969. As the group grew, and became the standard-bearer organization for the increasingly professionalized field of journalism, so too did the need for more clearly defined professional standards. And in a rapidly changing field, it soon became clear that these standards needed to keep up with the times. So the Code of Ethics was updated, and updated, and updated. All told, the original Code has been modified five times, in 1973, 1984, 1987, 1996 and most recently - and long overdue -- in 2014. Broadly speaking, the Code seeks to establish standards of accountability, accuracy, independence and responsibility toward the public. Though unenforceable, it provides unofficial guidance for most professional journalists. Having been translated into 23 languages, it also serves as a model for newsrooms and journalism organizations around the world.

Breaking Promises: Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. (1982)

Dan Cohen, a Republican campaign associate for 1982 Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Wheelock Whitney, gave court records about the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor to various newspapers in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The newspapers promised him confidentiality, but still identified him. He was fired, and Cohen sued the Cowles Media Company in state court for breach of contract. The case wound its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the First Amendment didn't protect the press from breaking a promise to its sources.

some of the many ways Digital Ads reach consumers -

Display ads - Still the dominant method used, accounting for about 44% of all digital advertising, and taking on various formats, including banners, columns, strips that appear along the top or down side columns of almost any website you open. Using cookies, these website are able track your usage and search history, to know what interests you, and feed you ads that are tailored to your individual tastes. Search ads - in search engines like Google, advertisers pay to get their information ranked higher on the pages of whatever subject you may be searching Social Media postings - though they may appear like individuals' posts, often these are sponsored by businesses and organizations with the intent of advertising said business, perhaps coming from paid "influencers" who are hired or paid by the company to push a certain brand, destination or concept. Websites - These are basically glorified and more elaborate presentations of a business or institution, meant to put the best face forward to the consuming public Advertorials - paid content that imitates the formatting and style of news, blogs or articles, but has been paid for by advertisers, who pay a writer to produce a company-friendly article, and then pay the publication's website to feature the pseudo-article, and even to promote it (for an extra charge, of course.) Pop-up ads (form of display) and embedded links (pop up when cursor passes over triggering phrase) Mobile ads - Also displays but geared toward mobile devices (more than 50% of digital market now geared toward mobile) Apps - Mobile websites that combine branding, advertising and use

. Freedom of Speech Further Defined: New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)

During the turbulent days of the early 1960s, a full-page ad appeared in the New York Times that claimed the arrest of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. for perjury in Montgomery, Ala., was part of a campaign to destroy King's efforts to integrate public facilities and encourage blacks to vote. In response, Montgomery city commissioner L.B. Sullivan filed a libel action against the newspaper.The Court held that the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements -- even those later proven false -- unless they're made with actual malice, or knowledge that they're false or reckless. The Court dismissed Sullivan's case and established that publicly elected officials must prove an actual intent to harm in cases of libel or defamation.

History of Recorded Music and Sound

Emergence/Novelty - 1850s - The earliest experiments in developing recorded sound were happening in France, when a printer, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville, tied one end of a hog's hair bristle to a thin membrane stretched over a funnel. When he spoke into the funnel, he noticed the other end of the bristle left grooves on a revolving cylinder coated with sticky lampblack. He saw that the grooves varied, according to the sounds he produced, but he couldn't figure out how to play back the sound. 1877 - Thomas Edison, who we will see throughout the semester had his hands in many mass communication advances, mastered the playing back of sound, using his contraption which consisted of a foil-wrapped cylinder and a needle that pressed grooves into the tinfoil as he spoke. By placing the needle back in the groove and rotating the cylinder, he was able to recreate the sounds. And the first phonograph was born. Entrepreneurial - Late 1800s - Since Edison was always looking for ways to monetize his inventions, his phonograph quickly moved sound recording development to the next stage of entrepreneurship. He was eager to tie his phonograph to another communication tool he was perfecting, the telephone, and saw the phonograph serving as an early answering machine. Meanwhile, his German-born counterpart, Emile Berlinger, was experimenting with his own version of a sound machine, replacing the bulky cylindrical shape with a flat round disk. Say hello to records! 1906 - All that was needed now was a machine to play these records upon. Enter the Victor Talking Machine Company. This Camden-based company created the first record player, at that time housed inside a major piece of boxy wooden furniture known as the Victrola. Later, this was scaled back to a smaller box, with a horn-like megaphone protruding from it to distribute the sound. Next time you're walking near campus, take a look at the stained glass window in the tower of the Victor apartment building down by the riverfront in Camden, and you'll get an idea of what this new "Gramaphone" looked like. Mass Market - Early to mid 1900s - With the technology both to create sound and to play in back now well established, records and record players become a staple in every household. The record takes on new shapes, going from a very slow playing 78 rpms (revolutions per minute) to 33 1/3 rpms, the preferred format for record albums, and 45 rpms, used for singles, with just one song per side. 1920s-30s - The invention of the magnetic audiotape in 1929, and the tape playing devices to play these tapes on opened up a new way to listen to music, beyond the record player. Though it would be a while before the initially bulky equipment would be streamlined to allow for a more portable music listening experience. 1960s- 80s - The tape form of sound recording gets more refined moving from reel-to-reel tapes, to cassettes, then compact discs, or CDs. And of course, the players to run them, from portable cassette players one could carry around to CD slots that augmented the car radio system. (Many cars today do not include CD players, since CDs are also going the way of the cylindrical disk.) Convergence - 1990s - As we enter the digital age, sound recording moves into MP3 file format, that allows for compression of multiple digital recordings into smaller, easily managed files. This new technology also allowed for file sharing, and it's subsequent challenge, music piracy. 2000s - It's all about streaming today, as we shift from owning huge collections of records or CDs, to simply borrowing the music we like, through streaming subscription services like Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play Music, or through streaming radio services like Pandora. Another break-out player in the world of sound recordings is the Podcast, which has enjoyed a late but now blooming popularity.

A Little Background on the Nielsens

Founded by Arthur C. Nielsen in the 1920s as a company that provided consulting for brand advertising, Nielsen began measuring audience participating in 1947, when it started tracking radio listenership. Within a few years, the company decided to tap into the rapidly growing popularity of the new mass media kid in town: Television. Participants, known as "Nielsen families," were asked to keep viewing diaries, writing down every show the family watched, along with being supplied with Set Meters, silver boxes that were attached to participating households' television sets that could record when the television was in use, and what channels and programs were being watched. Over time, data-gathering technology has become much more sophisticated, as has the company itself. While still relying on consumer surveys and viewing diaries. Nielsen now uses barcode scanners, smart phone tracking and apps to track the television viewing habits of thousands of households in the US and abroad. To capture the time-shifters, participants are now measured in live time, as well as "live plus 24" or "live plus 7 days" to include those opt to watch programs days after the show airs.

Seeking to Dominated Niche Audiences

If you are going to narrow your focus to a specific subject matter, you'll have to work hard to capture the bulk of the audience within that specific niche market, even if that niche is as broad as "all women" or "all men" or "all homeowners." This quest for market domination led to aggressive competition. For instance, in the world of women's "shelter" magazines, you had Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle and Women's Day all trying to carve out the largest portion of the pie. On the men's side, you had Playboy going head-to-head with Penthouse, Details, Maxim, Men's Health and GQ. Of course, some of these magazines upped the game by feature pictures of nude women, a long-standing selling point of both Playboy and Penthouse, though in 2016, Playboy announced they were no longer going to feature nude photos. Among the other targeted niche audiences: sports enthusiasts (cars, boating, racing, running, fitness, hunting, golf, etc.) hobbyists (cooking, sewing, antiquing, video game playing, collecting, decorating, bird watching, etc.) travelers the senior set (The American Association of Retired People's AARP Monthly Magazine boasts the largest circulation today, with more than 23 million readers) technology geeks (computers, gaming, programming, digital equipment, etc.) diversity populations fashionistas brides to be children (magazines like Highlights, Boy's Life and Scholastic, which also have an educational component)

Prior Restraint: Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart (1976)

In a widely publicized murder trial, a Nebraska state trial judge kept reporters from publishing or broadcasting accounts of confessions to the police made by the accused. The judge felt that prior restraint was necessary for a fair trial.The Supreme Court, however, found that implementing prior restraint wouldn't affect the trial's outcome. Chief Justice Warren Burger reasoned that the "whole community should not be restrained from discussing a subject intimately affecting life within." This was seen as protecting the press' responsibility to provide information of public interest.

Public Opinion Research

In order to better understand how the masses were responding to mass media, researchers devised methods to tap into larger swaths of society to ask questions and solicit the responses of everyday citizens. This type of public survey, or public opinion gathering has taken on many forms, from polling voters in the weeks leading up to Election Day to public opinion surveys of citizens' attitudes or beliefs. Many organizations, governments, businesses and institutions rely on the findings from this type of public opinion research to better understand citizens' thoughts, concerns, habits, and likely reactions to proposed policies, new products, or shifting attitudes. Some also use such polling to urge these attitudes along in a specific direction. This type of "push polling" or "pseudo polling" is frowned upon by legitimate public opinion research organizations like Pew Research, Gallup, or Rasmussen.

Deregulation

In recent decades, the US government has taken more and more of a hands-off stance when it comes to regulating private industry. This has been particularly evident in the world of media, with broadcasting media being the beneficiary in the latter part of the 20th Century and digital media benefitting from the deregulatory environment of today, as we discussed during our unit on digital media. In the 1950s, as television was gaining more of a foothold as the go-to media segment for American consumption, the Federal Trade Commission adopted the 7-7-7 Rule, which limited major media companies from owning more than 7 AM radio stations, 7 FM radio stations and 7 television stations, thereby ensuring more diverse ownership and products in the marketplace. Those ownership limitations were expanded to 12-12-12 in 1984, then 18-18-12 in 1992, then 20-20-12 in 1994. Then the Telecommunications Act of 1996, opened up the floodgates for telecommunication and broadcast media owners, allowing a single company to own almost all the radio and television stations in a given market, while also paving the way for cross-pollination. Suddenly, telephone companies could own TV or radio stations, and cable communications companies could provide phone service as well as get into the TV broadcasting game. In the world of conglomerates, no company better illustrates the advantage better than Disney, which has its finger in almost every pie of the media, communications and entertainment industries, including television, films, theme parks, music, podcasts, books and comic books, toys, animation, Broadway, and retail sales.

How do producers measure the success of a film or a television show?

In the world of television, shows live or die by how well they do in the ratings. For movies, it's ticket sales. Of course, with everyone mostly watching their movies at home these days, the number of tickets sold at movie theaters is not a very reliable measure of how popular a movie is or even how much money it stands to earn. For the latter, the movie studios are relying more heavily on either rental charges viewers must pay to watch a movie on a streaming service, or direct purchase from those same streaming services, like Netflix, Amazon or HBO Max, who have more or less replaced the movie house, at least for the time being.

universal factors

Individuals will bring diverse meanings to the same message, reflecting one's own life experiences. Differences such as gender, age, education level, religious training, race, ethnicity, occupation and location may impact those applied meanings. Outside influences can also have an impact, such as peer pressure, organizational membership or involvement and family values. Levels of engagement - ensuring that the message loop from the sender to the receiver is complete - may reduce some miscommunication, but does not guarantee that the intended message put forth by the sender, will be perfectly duplicated in the mind of the receiver. We are all subject to selective exposure, meaning that we tend to seek out messages that support or reinforce our existing cultural beliefs, values and interests. The borderless, decentralized nature of the Internet has eliminated or shrunk the role of traditional information gatekeepers, making for a more open, democratized means of sharing information, while also opened us up to messaging from indeterminate senders, requiring receivers to be more diligent in assessing sources.

Public Relations

Like advertising, public relations operates in the realm of persuasion, trying to shape how the message is delivered, and how it is received by the public. The central difference between advertising and PR is that in advertising, the attempt at framing the message happens by buying the space in which said message is delivered, thereby allowing whoever is shaping the message to have complete control over what is presented. Public relations, on the other hand, relies on other media entities to deliver the message "for free" through favorable publicity. By allowing a media outlet to deliver the message, the shaper gives over some control over how exactly that message will come out in exchange for the stamp of authority provided by the participating media outlet. lthough they provide an important role in disseminating information, Public Relations professionals are not always viewed in such high regard. To give you an idea of how the media (and therefore the public) sometimes perceives public relations professionals, just take a look at some of the other titles given to those working in this field: publicity agents press agents promoters pitchman/pitchwoman spokespeople media specialists flacks spin doctors advance man/woman spin-meisters communications specialist

Press Freedom's Central Principles

Malice, or Malice Aforethought - Journalists and their media outlets are protected even if they report false or inaccurate information, as long as the mistaken reporting was not done intentionally and the errors were not known to be in wrong at the time the misinformation was reported. Intentionally reporting misleading information, where malice was the motive, especially when it involves a public figure, would be subject to libel charges. Public figures vs. Private citizen - Public figures like celebrities, sports stars, politicians, business leaders and other known figures have less recourse to sue a publication when false information is reported, since they have chosen to put themselves in the public eye, and are therefore subject to misinformation at times. Private people are more vulnerable to injury, and do not need to prove malice to file a libel suit against a publication for false reporting. Confidential sources - Reporters have the right to protect the identity of sources who asked for such protection, and no court or governing body can force the reporter to reveal his or her sources. Prior restraint - another term for censorship, in which the Court has repeatedly ruled that the government cannot prohibit material from being published in advance of the publication, though there may be consequences afterwards. Government interests vs. the public's right to know - the court has argued that a proper balance must be struck between the government's right to protect national security interests and the press's right to report its findings to the public.

From General Interest to Subject Specific

One advantage magazines have long held over newspapers in this migration to online formats is their niche appeal. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, as newspapers have, magazines long ago shifted from being "general interest" publications to subject specific. This wasn't always the case though. In fact, some of the most iconic magazines ever produced would best be described as general interest. Enjoying decades of popularity between the 1920s and 1950s, these magazines covered a broad range of news and culture, presenting stories and pictures from around the country and the world. Magazines like Time or Newsweek provided a comprehensive weekly digest of national and global news.

The Ivory Tower of Academic Study

One complaint sometimes lobbed at scholars who apply academic studies to unravel and explain our everyday lives is their tendency to maintain a safe distance, and expend too much time before arriving at any conclusions. At times, the areas of study appear to be remote or so specialized that they don't apply to our day to day existence. This is particularly frustrating in our rapidly changing mass media environment where people are looking for answer to pressing, sometimes critical issues. Another criticism is that scholars and researchers tend to use academic jargon, language and data that is incomprehensible to students or other audiences who use mass media, and therefore the findings have little resonance or impact. In response, some scholars in the field of media impact have moved toward becoming more socially conscious, giving lectures, writing articles in the popular press, appearing on talk shows, and generally diving more deeply into political and cultural ponds that are ripe with opportunity to study the impact of mass media on our society.

5 phases of communication

Phase I: Oral (pre-literate) - Dates back to Greek philosophers when face to face communication was the only way to get one's message across. This might be done in a one-to-one conversation, or in speeches presented to a gathering of people. In these oral communications, the language is specific and local, with leaders and top thinkers setting the standard and dictating the rules or norms. Another method of oral communication comes by way of story tellers, who, while they might not represent society's leaders, they do possess knowledge and insights, bringing tales to pass along to individuals or group gatherings. In the oral tradition, information is often passed along from generation to generation, changing over time in the re-telling; making memory a crucial vehicle for maintain some semblance of truth . Phase II: Written - While a battle played out amongst ancient Greek philosophers over the greater value of oral or written communication, the written word soon began to gain prominence. With the advent of written communication a level of literacy now is required, with a common understanding of symbols that represent language. This also means language becomes more uniform, while varying within different societies and geographies. With the advent of written word, class distinctions emerge based on those who are literate or are not. Nevertheless, communication becomes more widespread, and more permanent. Memories, myths and stories can be put down in print, thereby created a record of what one wants to share and pass along on to others who may not be in direct communication lineage. Phase III: Print - Though paper and block printing were developed in the first millennial, it wasn't until well into the second, in the middle of the 15th Century, with the development of the Gutenberg Press and the subsequent Gutenberg Bible that we seen the emergence of automation and mass production of of the written word. With this innovation, comes the ability to increase speed and volume of production, and therefore reduce cost; the reduced cost means greater access to information by the masses leading to a greater democratization of society. This increased literacy allows for multiple voices and attitudes to be heard, fostering both nationalism and individualism. It also ushers in shift within society from agrarian model to the industrial revolution and the information age. Phase IV: Electronic - This phase marks the entry into what we could comfortably call "the information age." Beginning with the 1846 innovation of the telegraph, which uses dot-dash electronic signals to transmit information, meant we were no longer strictly reliant upon physical delivery of a hard product to share information. This opens up the lines of communication across the country, and to a lesser extent, the world, while dramatically speeding up the communication process. Transmission can be instantaneous, but is still limited to one-way communication. This stage also paves a path for many of the most important tools of 20th Century communication, including telephone, radio and television. Phase V: Digital - With the use of computers, images, text and sound can be converted and encoded into electronic signals, which are then decoded by users in a mirrored reproduction. This allows for true global communication, and, for the first time, opens a method for the receiver to engage with sender in a continual exchange of information and ideas. As we have seen with social media, the digital revolution allows communicators to bypasses gatekeepers, censors, or other entities wishing to control the message, and instead permits direct communication. This loss of a gatekeeping step allows for more freedom, but also opens to floodgates to a wave of misinformation.

What are Ratings?

Ratings are the way audience viewership is measured, which directly impacts upon how much can be charged to advertisers to run 15, 30, or 60 second ads during a particular program. As a result, ratings also play a major role in deciding whether a show will stay on the air or get pulled. After all, if it can't command high ad rates, it becomes a financial drain for the network or cable station it is running on, and before too long, network executives decide to pull the plug. Since 1950, the media research company Nielsen has been the primary organization to measure viewership and provide those valuable figures to television networks, producers and show runners. Of course, over time the job of measuring viewers has become a lot trickier, since many are no longer viewing shows when they originally air. But Nielsen has made adjustments to accommodate American's habit of time-shifting our television viewing. Another problem for measuring viewers is the "cord-cutters" who have walked away from regular network and cable television programs and opted to do all their TV viewing through subscription streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime

The Protection of Confidential Sources: Branzburg v. Hayes (1971)

Reporter Paul Branzburg interviewed several drug users in a two-county area in Kentucky, and wrote an article that appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal. He was called in twice to testify before state grand juries about his confidential sources. He refused both times.The Supreme Court found that the fact that reporters receive information in confidence doesn't give them the right to withhold that information in a government investigation. Reporters have gone to jail rather than reveal confidential sources.

A Case for Libel: Gertz vs. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974)

Robert Welch, Inc., publisher of American Opinion, a magazine that spread the views of the ultraconservative John Birch Society, warned that Communist sympathizers were trying to frame police officers. An article about Gertz, an officer who was considered a private person, contained several damaging factual misstatements. The Court ruled 5-4 that a private person, who is more vulnerable to injury, doesn't have to show actual malice in order to prove libel. The Court reasoned that public officials and public figures are in a better position to counteract false statements.

Present Newspapers

Since the start of the 21st Century, the newspaper industry has been going through a major transition, with the two pillars of its long-standing financial model - money earned through paid subscriptions and advertising - both being challenged. More and more people are dropping their paid subscriptions to newspapers while finding their news through other "free" sources, like digital search and social media channels that trade on the value of news but refuse to pay its producers for recycling that valuable content. At the same time, major advertisers who once saw the immediate return-on-investment of running a full-page ad in the New York Times or the Washington Post, are now also turning to alternative - i.e. - digital outlets - to get their messages before a broadening audience. One other major advertising revenue stream that has all but disappeared for newspapers has been Classified Ads. Once providing a significant of the income newspapers could count on, these small ads that ran every day in the back pages of newspapers everywhere, listing cars for sale or apartments for rent, posting help wanted positions, or asking for help in finding a lost dog, have completely shifting to online sites like Craigslist, Monster.com and Zillow.com. The result has been the death of more than 1,800 newspapers across the country in the last 10 years, where the greatest impact has been on local news coverage, which has been severely reduced, certainly in terms of print journalism, and even a lessening of local broadcast news. This condition is known as "News Deserts" where large swaths of the country are no longer being provided with local news of any sort Meanwhile, a new wave of support has sprung up for maintaining the newspaper product - be it the actual print version or increasingly the case, a digitized version of the news, which many see as a backbone of our democracy. Philanthropists, non-profit organizations, citizen groups, and yes, even those digital giants like Facebook and Google, who have grown enormously profitable in part by trading on information provided by newspapers, are starting to recognize their responsibility and making large donations, creating grass roots operations or forming foundations to keep news alive.

innovators and entrepreneurs

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

The Pentagon Papers: New York Times Co. vs. United States (1971)

The U.S. government under President Nixon issued a temporary injunction ordering the New York Times not to publish the documents about the Viet Nam War, claiming it would endanger national security. The Times appealed, arguing that prior restraint (an order not to print information before it's actually printed) violated the First Amendment.The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the New York Times. The majority of the court recognized the need to find a balance between the right to a free press and the need for the government to protect national security.

Television's Development Stage

The challenge for early pioneers was to figure out how to separate TV waves from the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing for the transmission of "tele-visual" images. The development of the cathode ray tube (the predecessor of the TV picture tube) in the early 1900s brought together the properties of cameras and electricity. Because television images cannot float through the air, finding a system of delivering these images meant returning to the basic puzzle facing any form of communication: The SENDER (the tv station) would need to encode the message, while the RECEIVER (one's TV set) would have to decode it. Working at about the same pace and same time, Vladimir Zworykin, a lab assistant in Russia, and Philo Farnsworth, a teenager in Idaho, would both invent equipment to transmit electronic TV pictures. RCA, then the world's leading broadcasting company, had hired Zworykin after he immigrated to the US, and tried unsuccessfully to challenge Farnsworth's patents. Later RCA had to pay him for the use of his patents. While RCA boasts that it first showed the world the Magic of Television during the World's Fair of 1939, in truth Farnsworth demonstrated his version of TV for the public five years early, at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute (perhaps you have seen this exhibit during a visit to that museum?)

Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics

The code not only establishes accepted rules of professionalism within the field of journalism, it also serves as a cultural lighthouse, guiding practitioners in their values, ethics and priorities, while setting a benchmark for democracy as a whole.

Photojournalism's Glory Days

The news magazines' photographic counterparts - Life and Look - told similar stories but through the more visual media of photography. These visually stunning magazines graced coffee tables and served as a means of recording history in an age before television, featuring pictures taken by some of the most respected photojournalists of the day, like Gordon Parks and Margaret Bourke-White, whose searing black and white photos were often on the cover of Life and Look magazines. Life Magazine was so popular that its weekly circulation reached more than 17 million people, including what in the magazine industry is referred to as "pass along readership", meaning that one issue of Life might get shared by as many as eight to ten people. Other general interest magazines took more of a story-telling approach, like Saturday Evening Post, one of the longest running magazines with a history that began in 1821 and ended in 1969. Or the New Yorker, which began in 1925 and has long been considered the home of the country's most talented writers and journalists. Or Reader's Digest, which for many years boasted the highest circulation of any magazine. Ahead of its time as an "aggregator" of news, Reader's Digest would pull articles from other magazines and package them together is a small-format weekly magazine that was easy to carry around, and even easier to read. By the 1950s, the new medium of television sucked a lot of the air out of the visual appeal of magazines like Life and Look, both of which folded in the early 1970s. Around this same time, magazines started to specialize so that people who wanted to dive deep into the worlds of cooking, boating, home decorating, and yes, even gossip, could find a publication that would provide them with all they sought to know on that given topic. A precursor to the celebrity-obsessed world in which we now live, People magazine was one of the most successful mass market subject-specific magazines to ever launch. It began publication in 1974, and remains with the top 10 most popular magazine today. With its focus on mostly celebrities, mixed in with some heart-wrenching human-interest stories from everyday folks, People saw its circulation grow to more than 2 million people in less than five years. Though it appeals to the mass market, People was seen as the winning ticket to focusing on specialized subject matter, and it's format was copied by many other similarly focused magazines like Us Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Star and In Touch.

What about Microsoft?

The one tech giant you might have expected to find in this list of scorned media monopolies is Microsoft. While certainly one of the largest and most successful digital media companies in the world, and one that was subject to years of antitrust investigations, Microsoft has been able to shift its position from government adversary (a space still firmly occupied by the above mentioned BIG FOUR) to a place of conciliation and compromise. The shift is partly due to the products Microsoft provides, which are no longer at the center of the storm, and in part because the company's leaders have come to accept the notion that governments and tech businesses need to cooperate to establish workable policies and solutions.

Censorship Around the World

The survey found that 45 percent of world's population live in countries where there is no press freedom at all, and where governments control and dictate whatever information is distributed, while threatening to persecute, jail and even execute journalists for failing to adhere to these tight government controls. Only 13 percent of the world's population enjoy a free media system similar to that of the US.

First Major Brush with Prior Restraint: Near v. Minnesota (1931)

This case helped the Supreme Court define the concept of prior restraint. When Minneapolis newspaper editor Jay Near attacked local officials by claiming in print that they were associated with gangsters, Minnesota officials obtained an injunction to keep the article from being published. The Court ruled that the action violated the First Amendment and this case helped establish the principle that with a few exceptions the government can't censor or prohibit material in advance of publication, even though the material might be actionable in a future proceeding.

Rating

This figure is the percentage of people watching your show at any of the above measured times, in relation to the overall number of people who have televisions. So if 100 million households have television, and 20 million have watched the Superbowl, that would be a 20 Rating.

Share

This figure measures the percentage of people who are watching YOUR show, compared to how many people are actually watching TV at a given time. So if 60 million people have their TVs on on the first Sunday in February, and 20 million are tuned into the Superbowl, then the Superbowl gets a 33 Share.

inventors

Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell or Nikola Tesla

TV Entrepreneurial Stage -

To make TV a mass means of communication meant developing standards for manufacturing and distribution. From 1941 to 2009, analog signals were the standard in the US and many other countries. Then digital signals became the mainstay, translating TV images and sound into binary codes, allowing for more channels and better quality and sound. A limited number of airwave frequencies in a given area, and interference among those frequencies, limited the number of TV channels the Federal Communications Commission was willing to assign in an area. This was the reason New Jersey had no stations of its own, being in the unfortunate position between high frequency areas of New York and Philadelphia. Using cables to transmit messages opened up the floodgates. And thus Cable Television was born.

Defamation Clarified: Curtis Publishing v. Butts (1966)

Two cases originating on Southern college campuses came before the Supreme Court in the early 1960sIn one case, the Saturday Evening Post, published by Curtis Publishing Company, ran an article accusing Wally Butts, then-athletic director for the University of Georgia, of conspiring to fix a 1962 football game between Georgia and the University of Alabama. The article claimed that Butts gave Georgia's plays to Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Butts sued for defamation, and a trial court ruled in his favor. Soon after the court's ruling in Times vs. Sullivan (below), Curtis moved for a new trial because the actual malice standard from that case wasn't applied. But in this case Curtis wasn't an elected public official.In its 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court agreed to extend the reach of the Sullivan verdict to include public figures like national politicians, business tycoons and celebrities.

How Media Profits and Who Benefits -

Unlike some other countries, where the government plays a significant role in supporting and controlling media entities, in the US, the mass media is largely a privately owned operation. As is the case with all private enterprise in a capitalist society, one of the primary goals is to make money. In the case of media companies, this is done by creating a product or content (news, entertainment programming, literature, information, etc.) which is developed and distributed through various media channels. Along the way, the media entity establishes a system of valuing that product that will in turn generate revenues, either by setting a price for consumers to access that product (direct sales, subscriptions, or usage) or system whereby others may benefit by supporting it (advertising buys, foundation support, government subsidy, etc.) which will hopefully result in the company gaining profits.A second criticism often leveled against major media companies has to do with the nature of media, which is viewed by many as a public product, meant to serve and inform the public. In this regard, media companies are constantly called upon to be more civic-minded, either in supporting just causes or in providing universal access to their products without imposing unfair burdens for those who cannot afford such access. In this category, we have seen many of the world's richest media moguls, like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos (and his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott) and Warren Buffett pledge to give away much of their fortunes to needy causes.

Censoring Student Newspapers: Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

When Hazelwood East High School principal Robert E. Reynolds found two articles inappropriate to be published in the school newspaper he barred them from publication. Cathy Kuhlmeier and two other students on the newspaper staff brought the case to court, saying the principal's actions violated their First Amendment rights.In a 5-3 decision, the Court said the educators didn't offend the students' First Amendment rights, as long as their actions were "reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns." The issue was further examined (and possibly confused) when an article written for Utica High School's student newspaper about the harmful effects of bus diesel fumes was barred from publication. A student journalist pursued the issue legally, and the Michigan district court called the censorship incomprehensible: "[I]f the role of the press in a democratic society is to have any value, all journalists -- including student journalists -- must be allowed to publish viewpoints contrary to those of state authorities without intervention or censorship by the authorities themselves."

How mobile ads have become a large part of the digital ad market -

With more and more people turning to their phones and mobile devices for all information all day long, Mobile advertising has seen an explosive growth in recent years. In 2019, mobile advertising worldwide reached $189 billion, and was expected to climb to $240 billion by 2022. And then Covid hit. And so many other businesses and industries that were devastated by the impact of the pandemic and the subsequent shutdown of society, mobile engagement and communication became a lifeline for so many of us. Going where the public communicates, the advertising industry shifted much of its efforts to mobile apps and the mobile realm. From 2019 to 2020, mobile advertising grew by 26 percent and reached that three-year target of $240 billion by the end of 2020, rather than 2022. Consumers also appeared to be quite willing to conduct transactions using their phone, reflected in the 20 percent job in spending using mobile apps, with hit $143 million by the end of last year. For more insights into how the pandemic fueled an even greater surge in mobile engagement, mobile advertising, and mobile spending

Surviving the Digital Shift

With the shift to an online format, some magazines have thrived, while others have gone out of business. Here is a list of some of the big names in the Magazine world that shifted entirely to digital in the last few years: Teen Vogue Computerworld Self Nylon Jet Redbook Glamour Seventeen Coastal Living Cooking Light ESPN The Magazine The New York Observer

Trade Books -

both aimed at adults and juvenileshard-cover and paperbackfiction and non-fictionincluding e-books and audio booksgeared toward general readers sold in commercial retail settingsconstituting almost 2/3 of the book selling marketplace

culture and mass media

culture being the ways people live their lives at a given period in history, including their choices in art, customs, beliefs, leisure activities, fashion, games, traditions, institutions, and more, and mass communication being the means and processes through which these choices are shared, a system of expression that allows individuals, groups and society to articulate and make sense of their activities and values.

modern book industry

divided both structurally and economically into categories that have been developed by publishers and trade organizations.

Cultural Studies Research

examines the subject from the human perspective, looking at the ways people make meaning, experience reality and assign values to the decisions they make, often based on their interaction with cultural symbols that may be shaped or defined by mass media.

Receivers

individuals, audience

Textbooks -

introduced in the mid-19th Century to aid in public education and improve literacy ratesdivided into educational levels- elementary, middle school, high school, university, vo-techstates or local school boards decide on which textbooks are appropriate for K-12 grade, and help fund purchasing (referred to as el-hi textbooks)higher education texts are purchased by individual studentsthe introduction of digital textbooks has helped keep costs from rising at the same rates as tuition increasessocial media sites help students share, sell, and rent textbooksEl-hi market accounted for $3.73 billion in salesHigher ed market was $3.92 billion

Walter Lippmann (1920s & 1930s)

journalist, author, commentator, media critic, Lippmann and his ground breaking 1922 book "Public Opinion" - which has been called "the founding book in American media studies - helped shed light not only on the outsized role of mass media but also challenged the notion of our democratic society, noting that our choices are not our own.

Media Effects Research

looks at the subject from the perspective of the media's output, trying to understand and define the effects mass media has on various segments of society, and to use those finding to predict human behavior and outcomes

A Cultural Understanding of Communication Methods and Means

mass communication through which we receive information and messages, we tend to view these transmissions as somewhat ephemeral - a wave of news or entertainment that washes over us in a temporary manner, only to be replaced by the next wave and then the next.

Gatekeepers

news editors, producers

Mass Media Channels

newspapers, magazines, television, Internet

Bob Geller

president of Fusion PR in New York City, has embraced his identity as a flack, and uses it in his blog

Impact from Covid

print and digital operations suffered in the last year of Covid, when advertisers slashed budgets and magazines had to either reduce the number of issues they produced in a year, cut back on content, or build stronger paywall to ensure more income. In the former category, magazines like Cosmopolitan, Décor, Elle, Good Housekeeping, vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Entertainment Weekly and Town & Country all reduced their print publication schedules. The once extremely popular O, The Oprah Magazine, which almost always features its founder Oprah on the cover, produced its usual 12 issue in 2020, but announced they would only produce 4 issues this year.

Messages

programs, texts, images, sound

culture

taking on a more permanent shape or position, and one that is often determined and imposed by others.

Professional Books -

target specific occupational groupsnot geared toward general populationtapping into growing hunger for professionalization and job/career growth opportunitiessub-divided into areas of - law, medicine, business, technical, accounting and scientificbought by professional organizations and librariessales have been off in recent years due to decreasing library budgetssales of $2.37 billion in

Similar to advertising, the business of public relations taps into many aspects of communication and human nature. Here are some of the communication tools at play in public relations:

understanding psychology and what motivates individuals or groups targeting specific audiences through demographic stratification crafting language that will be effective presenting imagery that will be memorable exerting influence over difficult to persuade audiences developing crisis communications plans to respond to critical or scandalous events utilizing social media to expand the scope and reach of the message