COMM 310 Midterm

ch 7 slides 7-12

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM• Moviegoing experiences have changed over several generations•1931: There is no television yet. We are enjoying Mary Pickford in Kiki. What's more, we're sitting in a large downtown movie palace that comfortably seats more than four thousand filmgoers. An afternoon or evening at the movies is part of a weekly ritual that includes watching a cartoon, a newsreel, a film short or travel documentary, and a feature-length movie.\•1933: The first drive-in opened in Camden, New Jersey. •1946-1958: The number of drive-in theaters explodes: •102 in 1946, 820 in 1948, 5000 in 1958 THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM •One of the largest drive-in theaters was the All-Weather Drive-In in Copiague, New York, with space for 2,500 cars. •It also had an indoor 1,200-seat viewing area that was heated and air-conditioned, a playground, a cafeteria, and a restaurant with full dinners. •A shuttle train took customers from their cars to the various areas on the drive-in's twenty-eight acres. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM•One scholar of drive-ins, Don Sanders, argues in The American Drive-In Movie Theater (1997) that the decline of drive-in movies corresponded with the start of daylight saving time, which meant that movies started and finished later, well past children's bedtimes. •Color television also added to the demise of drive-ins during the 1960s, and some theaters began showing X-rated films. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM•1961: There are no VCRs yet. We are heading to our favorite downtown theater along with throngs of teens and families, or we're piling into hot rods and station wagons to go to the drivein at the edge of town. We are watching West Side Story. •2001: Our filmgoing experience stars a group of teenagers gathered at a multiplex near a major highway intersection on the outskirts of a city. Video games line the entrances that lead into twenty or more tiny theaters featuring projection screens not much larger than an oversized double-door garage but perhaps with new stadium-style seating. There are only a few families in the theater, although there would be many more if we were attending on a weekend afternoon. Most families are at home, watching movies like Shrek 2 on their VCR or DVD player and home theater system. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM•Today: •We download movies (legally and illegally) onto our iPads and laptops and order Netflix films from our online account. •We are also becoming creators, ripping scenes from digital copies of movies, editing mash-ups with increasingly affordable digital editing software, and sharing them with friends. •Teenagers are still the main audience for movies, but movies compete with video games for teens' attention. •Meanwhile, on-demand digital home-entertainment options increase with instant streaming by Netflix, Hulu, and the like, and with movie downloading options from Amazon and iTunes, which in turn keep more of us at home rather than in theaters. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE STUDIO SYSTEM •In 2010, Netflix made deals with major studios—including Warner Brothers, Fox, and Sony—to delay providing actual DVDs of new releases for twenty-eight days in exchange for more content for instant streaming. •This arrangement benefits both sides: •Studios have longer to push DVD sales, and Netflix's streaming business (arguably the future of home video distribution) grows stron

11

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•Trends in print newspapers: •Layoffs in newsrooms are more prevalent. •Print circulation is dwindling. •Ad sales are flat or declining (although Internet ad sales are growing). •Readers and advertisers increasingly defect to the Inter

ch1 slide 15

CULTURE AS A MAP The map offered here is based on a subway grid. Each station represents tendencies or elements related to why a person would be attracted to particular cultural products. More popular cultural forms congregate in certain areas of the map, while less popular cultural forms are outliers. This multidirectional, antihierarchical model serves as a more flexible, multidimensional, and inclusive way of imagining how culture actually works.

Ch1 slide 13

AN INABILITY TO APPRECIATE FINE ART •Some critics claim that popular culture—in the form of contemporary movies, television, and music—distracts students from serious literature and philosophy, thus stunting their imagination and undermining their ability to recognize great art. •Unlike an Italian opera or a Shakespearean tragedy, many elements of popular culture have a short life span; a hit song, for example, might top the charts for a few weeks at a time. •Although endurance does not necessarily denote quality, many critics think that so-called better or higher forms of culture have more staying power. •In this argument, lower or popular forms of culture are unstable and fleeting; they follow rather than lead public tast

20

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•To keep up with the blogosphere, newspapers cut corners, which in turn can undermine the publication's integrity (as bloggers find and reveal these errors). •Bloggers consistently expose newspaper errors (the blogging mantra is "we can fact check your ass"), which has been draining for the news media system both economically and emotionally.

CH1 slide 14

CULTURE AS A MAP• Our attraction to and choice of cultural phenomena—such as the stories we read in books or watch at the movies—represent how we make our lives meaningful. •Culture offers plenty of places to go that are conventional, familiar, and comforting. --- Yet at the same time, our culture's narrative storehouse contains other stories that tend toward the innovative, unfamiliar, and challenging. •Most forms of culture, however, demonstrate multiple tendencies. We may use online social networks because they are both comforting (an easy way to keep up with friends) and innovative (new tools or apps that engage us).

Ch 1 slide 8

CULTURE AS A SKYSCRAPER Using this model, critics have developed at least five areas of concern about so-called low culture: - the depreciation of fine art, - the exploitation of high culture, - the disposability of popular culture, - the decline of high culture, - and the deadening of our cultural taste buds

CH1- slide 7

CULTURE AS A SKYSCRAPER• Throughout much of the twentieth century, critics and audiences generally perceived culture as a hierarchy, with supposedly superior products at the top and inferior ones at the bottom. •This can be imagined, in some respects, as a modern skyscraper. •The top floors of the building house high culture , such as ballet, the symphony, art museums, and classic literature. •The bottom floors—and even the basement—house popular or low culture , including such icons as reality television, teen pop music, TV wrestling shows, and violent video games.

17

KEY MOMENTS FOR BLOGGERS•Matt Drudge, who created the proto-blog the Drudge Report in 1995, broke the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in 1998, very much threatening mainstream journalists by getting the story out first. •Bloggers kept the story of Senate Majority leader Trent Lott's bigoted birthday salute to Strom Thurmond in the blogosphere to the point that it became big news in the mainstream press. Lott resigned under the intense public scrutiny. •Bloggers doggedly researched the 2005 CBS News report about Bush's National Guard service and proved that the story was based on falsified documents. Their persistence in covering this story ended with Dan Rather resigning. The episode is now referred to as "Rathergate." •Talking Points Memo won a George Polk Award in 2008 for its reporting on the political firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

ch 7 slide 5

LIFE OF AN AMERICAN FIREMAN (1903)•Part of the power of film lies in our willingly suspending our disbelief. •However, we must learn to recognize that—just because we have a visual account of something—that does not mean it is an accurate representation of its subject. •Have you ever caught yourself believing something was an accurate representation when it may not have been? •How have these representations skewed your understanding of someone's life or a cultural phenomenon?

Ch 2 slide 5

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB •Search engines gradually became commercialized, and because of this commercialization, they are hardly impartial information tools. •Instead of "searching the entire web," search engines intentionally search through a greater number of "paying" sites. •Moreover, since only a few search engines (Google, Yahoo!, and Bing) power almost all others, and since these search engines promote the most popular, "known" sites, there is hardly any difference among search engines. •Most discouraging, their results are becoming less and less relevant, marginalizing information generated by nonprofit organizations.

21

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•Crog is a shorthand term for "carefully researched weblog." •Although these sites tend to look like blogs, they take a more analytical, serious approach. •Today, there are thousands of high-quality crogs covering nearly every public issue, and because the sites are also rich in hyperlinks, a reader can often delve into primary sources. •As such, crogs have become of great value to journalists and ordinary readers. •Examples of crogs include Dean Baker's site on economic reporting (Beat the Press, http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press) and University of Michigan professor Juan Cole's crog on Middle East affairs (Informed Comment, http://www.juancole.com)

13

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•In September 2010, the Huffington Post "poached" two traditional journalists, Peter Goodman (formerly of the New York Times) and Howard Fineman (formerly of Newsweek), to be editors on the site.•Arianna Huffington, the site's cofounder, stated that the Huffington Post always intended to bring together "the best of the old and the best of the new," and now that the website is growing and turning a profit, it can afford to hire the best traditional journalists.

16

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•In eighteenth-century England, political unrest and urbanization meant that people had a lot to say, and they could write pamphlets anonymously (like blogs) if the information was controversial. •Not everyone wanted to be anonymous, though; Daniel Defoe was a famous pamphleteer. •Hawkers distributed the pamphlets in streets and at marketplaces by shouting about the contents in the latest pamphlet. •Like blogs today, pamphlets were more conversational than the newspapers of the day. •A pamphlet would be distributed in the morning, and by the afternoon there would be another pamphlet that offered a response.

19

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•Journalists operate within an advertising-based, commercial media system that depends on retaining circulation. •Readers buy newspapers because they trust what they read, so a newspaper's entire economic structure is heavily invested in integrity and accuracy. •When journalists delay story publication, it is to avoid error. •Journalists tend to shun anonymous sources, and they usually require more than one source to verify a story. •Meanwhile, bloggers often rely on anonymous sources, can post news items immediately, keep stories alive longer than a newspaper, and do not have to worry about paying staff or earning advertising revenue. •They often do not work for pay.

14

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•Moreover, traditional journalists see an online platform as an opportunity to have more freedom with their writing and cultivate a personal identity. •Peter Goodman said in an interview about his move: •"For me it's a chance to write with a point of view. . . . It's sort of the age of the columnist. With the dysfunctional political system, old conventional notions of fairness make it hard to tell readers directly what's going on. This is a chance for me to explore solutions in my economic reporting."

15

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•Nicholas Lemann, in an August 7, 2006, New Yorker article called "Amateur Hour," noted some interesting parallels between pamphleteering in eighteenth-century England and blogging. •The printing press made pamphleteering easily affordable, so all of a sudden "anyone" could be a journalist. •Likewise, creating a blog is infinitely more affordable than any other kind of news medium.

18

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•Some mainstream journalists have blamed blogs for lowering journalistic standards. •The blogosphere would argue otherwise, stating that it constitutes the "fifth estate," monitoring journalists and raising standards. •Indeed, journalists have turned against bloggers in part because journalists feel economically threatened by the blogosphere.

12

CHALLENGES FACING NEWSPAPERS TODAY•The mainstream press continues trying to make serious money from the Internet, uses the web to enrich traditional journalistic forms, and retains its professionalism. •Readers are content with part print, part web; newspapers, it seems, are staying alive as hybrids. •At many dailies, reporters are working across platforms, writing breaking news for their paper's website, posting blog items, adding video journalism to the mix, and making audio slide shows.

ch1 slide 16

MEDIA LITERACY AND THE CRITICAL PROCESS •Just as communication cannot always be reduced to the old linear sender-message-receiver model, many forms of media and culture are not easily represented by the high-low model. •We should, perhaps, strip culture of such adjectives as high, low, popular, and mass, which can artificially force media into predetermined categories. •We might instead look at a wide range of issues generated by culture, from the role of storytelling in the media to the global influence of media industries on the consumer marketplace. •We should also be moving toward a critical perspective that takes into account the intricacies of the cultural landscape.

ch2 slie 10

SOCIAL MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY •Social media platforms continue to expand their reach across age groups. •According to a 2018 Pew Research Center Internet and Technology fact sheet, the center began tracking social media adoption in 2005. •At that time, only 5% of American adults used a social media platform. •By 2011 that share had reached 50% of all Americans. •As of January 2018, 69% of those surveyed said they were using some type of social media.•The fact sheet can be viewed at http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/. •The full 2018 report is available at http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/

ch 2 slide 9

SOCIAL MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY• Social media now plays a large part in how we interact with political movements. •One of the earliest instances of this was the the wave of protests in more than a dozen Arab nations in late 2010, dubbed "Arab Spring." •This period featured many young activists using mobile phones and social media to organize marches and protests across Tunisia. •Other notable instances are the #BlackLivesMatter and #OccupyWallStreet movements, both of which centralize around social media hashtags.

ch 8 4-8

THE BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS •In France, newspapers purposefully occupy specific places along the political spectrum. •Le Monde is the most like the New York Times and is considered the "paper of record," resting in the middle (or even slightly to the left) of the political spectrum and targeting an educated, upscale audience. •Libération is solidly on the left. •Le Figaro is considered a "general information" newspaper but is on the right. •France-Soir and Le Parisien are sensationalist papers, but not on the level of the National Enquirer. •Other newspapers occupy other niches either on the far left or the far right. •Those who choose to read a certain paper know beforehand what its political bent is and usually read it to find support for their own values, while being fully conscious that another point of view is represented in an opposing paper. THE BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS•Politically alternative newspapers have a long history in the United States. •In the early twentieth century, the country's largest-circulation weekly newspaper was Appeal to Reason, a socialist paper. •Circulation peaked at more than 760,000 copies in 1913, and its readers were largely among the working class and immigrants. •During World War I, though, the government suppressed—sometimes violently—leftist newspapers. •In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, another alternative paper—the Daily Worker, a communist journal—saw its circulation climb to 100,000. THE BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS•The communist witch-hunts of the 1940s and 1950s later devastated this newspaper's circulation. •The Daily Worker became a weekly in the 1950s, and after a series of name changes it became the People's Daily World in 1986 and then the People's Weekly World in 1990, when the newspaper had a circulation of about 62,000. •In 2010, the paper ended print circulation and became an online-only daily publication, renamed People's World. THE BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS•During the 1990s, the alternative press made a comeback. •The number of alternative newspapers increased dramatically, with cities suddenly supporting three or four papers, whereas only one had existed a decade earlier. •Membership in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies—now renamed the Association of Alternative Newsmedia—experienced an 80 percent increase, and circulation figures doubled from 3 million in 1991 to 6.6 million in 2010. THE BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS•Alternative newspapers generally offer an approach that is indeed different from most middle-of-the-road newspapers, including a focus on city issues, opinionated debates, a clear political perspective, and investigative reports. •The advertising industry also discovered that alternative-press readers fall in the eighteen-to-forty-nine age bracket, are generally college educated, and earn more than $50,000 a year.

9

THE BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS•Circulation of alternative newsweeklies had grown to seven million by 1999. Circulation remained relatively flat—between seven million and eight million—through 2005.•The combined circulation of the top twenty alternative newsweeklies declined by about 14 percent in 2011, another 8 percent in 2012, 6 percent in 2013, and 9 percent more in 2014. •In that year, the top twenty alternative newsweeklies had a circulation of fewer than 1.5 million readers. •The adoption of digital, social, and mobile platforms offers hope for these publications to rebuild their readership.

10

THE BUSINESS AND OWNERSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS•Solo journalism (also called "sojo" or "backpack" journalism) is an increasing trend in reporting. •Sojos are journalists who perform single-handedly the combined functions of a journalist, photojournalist, videographer/editor, and blogger. •Most often working in field locations, sojos transmit stories, photos, and video via satellite phone, doing the work that is typically done by a four-person crew. •Although there have been other solo journalist pioneers before him, journalist Kevin Sites has emerged as one of the most high-profile sojos to date, independently reporting from war zones around the world.

20-22

THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL GAMING•The market research company NPD Group has been tracking the business of video games since 1995. Here is an excerpt of its findings from its "Gamer Segmentation 2016" report about different types of gamers:•Avid Omni Gamers spend 19 hours per week gaming•Core Console Gamers spend an average of $4 on physical games•Free & Mobile Gamers are the segment most likely to prefer digital games over physical, at 64%•Social Gamers outpace all other segments when it comes to gaming on social networks, spending an average of 9 hours per week on these sites•Casual Gamers are the segment most likely to prefer playing free games and paying for additional content as needed•85% of Family Gamers prefer physical games over digital THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL GAMING•Not only can a video game generate huge sales on several different brands of game consoles, but the success of the release of a popular video game title can rival, or even surpass, the release of popular films, DVDs, and albums. •For example, Grand Theft Auto V sales totaled $800 million (12 million units) on the first day it was available in September 2013, whereas Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke the record for biggest opening ever, taking in just over $119 million on its first day, and the fastest selling album of all time, Adele's 25, sold less than 2.5 million copies in the first three days after its release. #GAMERGATE•The controversy around #GamerGate highlights gender-related issues in gaming culture. •The cancellation of some of Anita Sarkeesian's public appearances (because of threats of violence) has also sparked debates about freedom of speech issues. •A 2017 study by the Pew Research Center that harassment is a common feature of online life for many adults: •"Around four-in-ten U.S. adults (41%) have experienced some form of online harassment, and an even larger share—66%—have seen this happen to others." •Key findings included the fact that young adults were the most likely to face online abuse with 67% of adults 18- to 20-years-old reporting some form of online harassment. •Social media was the most most common venue for online harassment. #GAMERGATE•The controversy around #GamerGate highlights gender-related issues in gaming culture. •The cancellation of some of Anita Sarkeesian's public appearances (because of threats of violence) has also sparked debates about freedom of speech issues. •A 2017 study by the Pew Research Center that harassment is a common feature of online life for many adults: •"Around four-in-ten U.S. adults (41%) have experienced some form of online harassment, and an even larger share—66%—have seen this happen to others." •Key findings included the fact that young adults were the most likely to face online abuse with 67% of adults 18- to 20-years-old reporting some form of online harassment. •Social media was the most most common venue for online harassment

Ch 2 slide 3

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB •Search engines are a good example of an oligopoly. As of 2018, Google remained dominant with 91.8 percent of searches, followed by Microsoft's Bing (2.8 percent), China's Baidu (1.7 percent), Yahoo! (1.6 percent), and Russia's Yandex (0.6 percent). •Start-ups don't have the advertising budget to get noticed by the general public, so survival is difficult. •However, the typical exit strategy is to get acquired by one of the major search companies: Google, Yahoo!, or Bing. •MedStory, for example, was purchased by Microsoft in 2007

ch 2 slide 6

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB •There is a growing movement among digital librarians and computer scientists to sidestep commercial search engines (which favor commercial enterprise) and link hundreds of thousands of subject directories (also called subject gateways) together and then search them in the same way one uses a search engine. •This linking would give hard-to-find, marginalized nonprofit sites (such as academic specialty sites) a presence on the web. •For an example, visit OAIster (www.oclc.org).

Ch 2 slide 4

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB •Four myths about commercial search engines that the industry has been very good at sustaining: 1.Search engines are impartial information tools. 2.Search engines search the entire web, gleaning the most relevant results. 3.Search engines vary greatly, thus offering choice and a competitive marketplace. 4.Search engines are the only place to go for relevant information on the web.

ch 2 slide 7

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB •No other search company has even come remotely close to matching Google's unabashed dominance on the Internet. •Google has even gone abroad, customizing search sites in numerous languages and tailoring its site to dozens of countries (google.de, google.fr, google.ru, google.cn, google.it). •Some companies, however, are taking a stab at Google by rethinking how web searches could be reconfigured. •Niche search engines have also gained some ground: Kayak and Mobissimo for travel, ShopltToMe and Ideel (Groupon purchased and renamed Ideeli in 2014) for fashion, and Healthline for health (health is a particularly difficult area for a general search engine like Google to handle because the jargon is so specific).

ch 2 slide 15-19

TRENDS AND ISSUES IN DIGITAL GAMING•The kinetic and tactile experience of motion-sensing gaming consoles (like the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinect) is popular with consumers and represents a revolution in video games. •From the old Atari joysticks to the two-handed modern video game controllers with close to a dozen buttons, playing video games has been considered a mostly sedentary activity. •But with a system that can sense and track the movement of the players themselves, the Wii and Kinect require much more movement to play the games. •An example on the Wii is a version of a game of tennis in which a figure on the screen (an avatar) swings its racket as the human player moves the Wii controller as if it were the racket. •Another game designed for the Kinect system allows players to imitate the dance moves shown onscreen, and a motion-sensing device records and assesses the accuracy of the players' moves. TRENDS AND ISSUES IN DIGITAL GAMING•The active nature of this style of gaming has made it popular in a number of atypical settings for playing video games. •Numerous assisted living and nursing home facilities now use such games to help keep seniors active. •With systems like the Wii and the Kinect, gaming continues to become more and more integrated into the mainstream. THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL GAMING•Twitch, a website where you can watch other people play video games, gained more than 100 million viewers in its first four years and has become one of the most visited Internet sites during peak traffic periods. •In 2014, Twitch was purchased by Amazon for $1 billion. •What is the fascination with Twitch? Why is it so wildly popular? THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL GAMING•Video games, despite their emphasis on play, are actually big business. •The gaming industry is astoundingly huge with annual revenues expected to top $100 billion by 2017. •A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center found that about half of adults in the United States play video games on a computer, TV, game console, or portable device like a cell phone. •Fifty percent of men and 48% of women play games. •Among Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine, more than three-fourths of men say they play video games, compared with 57% of women. THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL GAMING•In 2015, Activision Blizzard (publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Destiny, Skylanders, and Guitar Hero) bought King Digital Entertainment, maker of Candy Crush, for $5.9 billion. •Activision Blizzard has more than half a billion active monthly users

ch 5/6 slide 8

WHAT IS "TELEVISION" IN THE SECOND DECADE OF THE 21ST CENTURY? •Evolving technologies (both to delivery and access content) have changed the nature and definition of these media. •Television viewing has shifted from taking place entirely in front of a television "set" to a media environment in which many students rarely view television on a "TV." •In the fall of 2015, Amazon Instant Video (directing and lead actor for Transparent) and Netflix (supporting actress for Orange is the New Black) won primetime Emmy awards from the Television Academy; FunnyOrDie.com and LouisCK.net were also winners.