media studies midterm

media industry...

-A more specific and contextualised formulation of the "who?" at the beginning of Lasswell's model **Continue to dominate media's production and distribution

fragmentation...

-A multitude of choices to the users that allows media to be highly individualized -So much choice to watch which can either draw people together or apart -We see this is the channel choices so people aren't really forced into watching anything that they don't want to -there are so many news sources you may just look at ones that reaffirm what you believe...so people are become more polarized and fragmented

media content...

-Comprises the "what" in lasswell's model and is probably the most talked about element of the media process -Content may have the capacity to influence the thoughts and lives of users and the broader ways of life and social relations of which they are a part

important characteristics of newspaper culture in the 18th and 19th centuries? formed USA?

-Generated shared cultural agendas which made it possible for people across the nation to read and engage with the same material -Time-symmetry of the shared experiences of the whole nation: whole countries would engage with the same set of controversies at the same time -'Imagined community' -National identity -newspapers used to be really cheap **penny presses -newspapers one of the first to actively criticize local government -as we get more states we have bigger need to inform everyone about info from all over the country **telegraph helped with this **helps create national identity when you know what is going on in other parts of your country -experience of reading was different **required deeper concentration/understanding **limited sources of news so it was exciting **we are used to getting info for free, this was not the case (when you pay for something you want to like it)

net neutrality...

-Internet service providers can not discriminate against the content that flows through the wires -Issues with net neutrality are with the freedom of speech, editorial control over web access (tiering the use of the web) , FCC control over broadband -Just needs to classify ISP's under the second instead of the first part of the telecommunications act -net neutrality is the idea that an internet service provider can't discriminate against the content coming through it -currently under title 1 so can't be enforced -zero rating (pay a mobile provider so the company's data won't count against your data count); against the spirit of net neutrality

media users...

-Rather than restricting their role to that of receivers who are affected by media messages, it recognises that those who engage with media play an active role in communications processes -Users also should be understood as small-scale creators and distributors of content

media technologies...

-Refer to the hardware through which media content is created, distributed and used **Rather than being neutral, technologies such as books, television, online newspapers, social media, and music streaming services each offer their own particular sets of possibilities and limitations

neil postman's assessment of television as a mode of communication, as opposed to print?

-against television **believes a consequence is on short-term entertainment and superficiality is deemed to have had a profound impact on culture and society off the screen, makes entertainment the primary goal of public discourse -print cannot disappear, but television culture can, so television is just the extension of print culture -media changes societies (how you think and carry yourself) -mode of thought went from info to entertainment -we are very image centered and tv has changed us negatively -infotainment -thought peak moment in US is early days of newspapers -thinks tv limits the amount of quality information received; "dumbing down society" -transition from lincoln-douglas debates to now -he is a technological determinist; very negative about technology's impact on people through their use of technology -thought print was inherently rational discourse -thought telegraph was bad in of itself and also hurt newspapers?

technological determinism...

-assume that the inherent biases of media technologies dictate their use and impact in predictable ways, regardless of who develops and controls them, who uses them, and what sociocultural context they are placed within -changes in technology, change society -a certain piece of technology has within it, an inherent and inevitable impact on society -technology is individual and powerful cause of social change -examples of technological determinists: postman, mander, and mcluhan -technology has predetermined social consequences -technology has huge impact on your behavior -soft version: outcomes are not predetermined but might be encouraged or prevented

horizontal integration...

-buying out competitors -buying all production studios

time biased media...

-clay, stone tablets, handwritten manuscripts, oral communication -stability, small communications, tradition -one and done -written and stays the same

media event...

-disrupts our own diet -grabs everyone's attention -not a choice, almost every outlet is focused on it -during media events, we assume everyone is unified and has a lot in common -signals of media event: news anchors aren't dressed professionally -global minute to minute coverage with worldwide audience -event that consumes the attention of all media

vertical integration...

-expansion up and down the production process -owning actors, production studios, filmmaking company, etc.

cultural hegemony

-gramsci -upper class has control through media

public sphere...

-habermas -the space between the policy making area (government) and the private sphere -space of development for ideas from private sphere (the people) which then goes into consideration during policy making -area between the government and private sectors -used to be coffee shops -a lot of these public discussions now take place in the media -the public sphere also implies participation in a broader public culture and the nurturing of a sense of cohesiveness, common identity and belonging

hot media...

-high-def and data intensive -lots of info -print media -radio -book

evolution of advertising techniques and forms, as outlined by hodkinson...

-idolatry **rational stage; told what product does/facts -iconography **what a product symbolizes -narcissism **what does product do for me? -totemism **how product connects to a client's community -mise-en-scene **frame of a movie, we are always in our own movies and can switch our performances

cool media...

-low in info intensity -high in audience participation -electronic media -television -speech

mcluhan's medium

-main argument: the medium is more important than the message **it is the capacities of media hardware, rather than the details of particular examples of content, that have real social significance -"the medium is the message" **the personal and social consequences of any medium- that is, of any extension of ourselves- result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology" **we miss what's more important because we focus on the content of the media, you have to focus on the media itself and how it changes ourselves and society -media are extensions of ourselves -he thinks electronic media is good for us -he thinks the content isn't as important as the medium

global village...

-mcluhan -thought television would return us to something earlier; optimistic -watching the same things so there is less fragmentation -TV allows you to see news from all over the world- this connects you

space biased media...

-newspapers, radio, tv -nations, centralized empires, wide trade -fleeting -accessible from various sources

non-commercial/public broadcasting system...

-not concerned about money **engage in donor drives or get government funding

media environment...

-press and williams -specific communication technology and social structure within technologies and how they are used -which technologies are in use and how you use those technologies

circuit of culture...

-production **the institutional and social circumstances in which a technology is developed, manufactured and distributed -representation **way stuff is sold to us -regulation **The various forms of control imposed by government or other bodies, which can restrict and shape the ways technologies are used -consumption **emphasizes the importance of the contexts in which users engage with technologies **how will people use this -identity **how we think of ourselves when using it

social construction of technology...

-relevant social groups: how they exercise power (they are not equally powerful) 1. economic context: the power of money --> development of technology 2. regulations: government sets parameters of development of technology/usage 3. cultural values/ meanings: changes the advancement of technology -we determined our own behavior, we are in the driver seat **however, technology facilitates our behavior -the production of these technologies themselves is a social endeavor -technology can be used to solve a problem -once technology is loosed upon the world **social conventions matter **cultural expectations matter **socio-economics matter **legal regulations matter -politics of perspectives -relevant social groups (the different ways they exercise power) -economic context (money controls what technologies get made) -regulations (gov regulate parameters of technology) -culture (can effect inventions and use of technology; what is the norm) -interpretive flexibility (a period that tells use that we can help shape the technology that's created; relative social groups decides whether it will be used broadly)

hurricane katrina...

-satellites were able to monitor/track and make corrections when errors were made -used live TV coverage --> everyone focused on the same event (media timeout) -more people were able to get out before the storm -journalists were able to go and cover live -journalists usually tell stories that the government wants people to hear, but during Katrina the government wasn't present so they reported the racist truth -we organize our societies based on the assumption that everyone has access in media

winner- artifacts have politics

-technology itself doesn't have political qualities but the social or economic system in which it is embedded does -example of robert moses and the expressways he built as a political statement, not allowing poor or black people to the beach -the difference would be the social determination of technology versus the technological determinism (stating that technology has predetermined social impacts regardless of the social context in which they were created) -bridges themselves don't have politics, but the intention behind the way they were constructed has politics -atomic bomb has inherent politics- only used for destruction -hard version **technology demands a certain arrangement (nuclear bomb)s -soft version **can be arranged to be political or social; **Bob moses- bridges

hurricane of 1928...

-the forgotten hurricane -west palm beach -3/4 of people who died were black --> due to poorness and lack of media outlets -the only people with names on their caskets were whites -no satellites or other tracking devices--> used airplanes and often lost signal--> info was slow and inaccurate

infotainment

-the news that is meant to be entertaining **Increase in US mass media outlets: the line between news and entertainment is blurred **The overlap of information and entertainment within one source of media **Larger number of news sources, want us to enjoy and captivate our attention, biggest source is the internet but there is no gatekeeper **We are getting political messages from things that are not labeled as news **Since there are so many sources it can draw us further apart as a community instead of reading the same news source and experiencing it as a community

kang and mcallister's arguments about the monetization of our internet activity (attention/activity for sale)

-they say that we are laborers by watching advertisements -People are getting paid for us to click on advertisements or watch commercials When we click and scroll the internet to look at things we like, advertisers can then see what are interests are and target us with advertisements that are more tailored to our wants and needs -advertisers pay google for pay-per-click ads **users click on advertisement -advertisers can buy keywords on google -your info/search history stored in your cookies -you do a lot of work for google for free

commercial..

-to make money

according to gillespie, how do media companies use the rhetoric of "platforms" to their own ends?

-youtube uses the term platform because it sparks interest with the multiple people that they are trying to appeal to -helps them sound neutral -they want to appeal to user, advertisers, content creators, regulators -youtube, google, and Facebook -provide 'platform' for everyday people to get their material out there -claim to be neutral (not super involved in what you can/can't post) and democratic (don't discourage anyone from not creating an account) -citizens being producers not just consumers -can't be held responsible for what their users post

12 agenda setting things...

1. Frequency and Immediacy 2. Amplitude 3. Clarity 4. Cultural Proximity 5. Predictability 6. unexpectedness 7. continuity 8. composition 9. elite nations 10. elite people 11. personification 12. negativity

According to Raymond Williams and your textbook, during which period did advertising develop into "a fully-fledged, organised and influential industry of persuasion"?

1880-1930

Which best describes Jacob Soll's narrative in "The Long And Brutal History of Fake News"? A. Fake news has been around forever, though the 20th century also saw the ascendancy of an objective journalism sector. B. Fake news really only started with the rise of the world wide web. C. Fake news has been with us for a long time but its harmful effects are a recent development. D. Fake news isn't fake, you're fake, you fakey faker.

A. Fake news has been around forever, though the 20th century also saw the ascendancy of an objective journalism sector.

Which of the following is NOT true of agenda setting? A. A consumer's education and political knowledge can moderate the effects of agenda setting. B. Agenda setting refers to the fact that news can not tell us exactly what to think, but it can tell us what to think about. C. Agenda setting refers to how a story is told by news organizations. D. Agenda setting includes practices of ranking, placement, and featuring trending stories.

C. Agenda setting refers to how a story is told by news organizations.

Why do Press and Williams consider public broadcasting the media business model most conducive to democracy? A. Public broadcasting is covered under the Hays Code, so nothing subversive or obscene can be produced through it. B. Public broadcasting in America is funded primarily through "viewers like you," so therefore the stations will produce what consumers like to see and hear. C. Public broadcasting, being unmotivated by commercial endeavors and not beholden to advertisers, broadcasts more reliable material in the "public interest," rather than being dictated by commercial motives D. Public broadcasting is regulated through the government, an institution that has the best say over what content serves the public good.

C. Public broadcasting, being unmotivated by commercial endeavors and not beholden to advertisers, broadcasts more reliable material in the "public interest," rather than being dictated by commercial motives

discourse analysis=

Explore language content and structure **Different forms of words can attribute or obscure responsibility for events, emotions, reactions **Places text in context -linguistic analysis -use of specific phrasing in headlines -analyzes how texts support or subvert overall views of the world, such as patriarchy or media power -Growth of interest among some theorists in the specific construction of meaning through the arrangement of words and sentences in media -Concerned with the ways broader beliefs, worldviews, and social structures are embedded in and reinforced through the use of verbal or written communication

quantitative content analysis=

Numbers (choose a sample, find evidence, make a claim) -you just count things **ex: masculinity in movies ^^you count number of masculine instances in a movie

interpretive flexibility...

Phase when a new technology is constantly evaluated and interpreted by producers and users (are groups representing the public's best interests included during the period of interpretive flexibility?)

priming=

Seeding for further discussion - "plants a seed", later it is activated and the "seed" blooms -Way that our memory is activated

havens and lots' "industrialization of culture" framework

Social trends, tastes and traditions = Forward thinking subset of society Mandate = Mission statement: why do you exist, make money, inform public, entertain Conditions = Parameters that you are dealing within, different for local and multinational Practices = Ex. on local level "second yr could be the general manager at the radio station Texts = Impacted by top categories Public = Impacted by top categories

symbolic value...

Symbolic value is what the object says about the user (i.e. these shoes will make you look athletic, or mercedes being a classy car) -arguments/claims where advertisements will try to get you to associate products with certain things -ex: buy this soap, it will make you a better mom

use value=

When objects are advertised for their use value it is purely about their qualities and what makes them good (i.e. gas mileage on a car, ingredients in makeup, etc) -makes claim to your rationalism

In Havens & Lotz' Industrialization of Culture perspective, which of the following includes the economic and legal environment? A. Conditions B. Mandate C. Social trends, tastes, and traditions D. Practices

a. conditions

Scholars argue that infotainment's negative characteristics include all the following EXCEPT: A. Infotainment fails to deliver audiences to advertisers. B. Infotainment focuses on the entertainment value of the news C. Infotainment increasingly focuses on lifestyle, personality, spectacle, and celebrity. D. Infotainment distracts people from considering more serious issues.

a. infotainment fails to deliver audiences to advertisers

according to postman, television culture: A. Makes entertainment the primary goal of public discourse B. Requires that we take the news seriously C. Extends literary and print culture D. Privileges ideas over performances

a. makes entertainment the primary goal of public discourse

According to Williams and Delli Carpini, which is NOT true of our contemporary news media environment?: A. The boundaries between hard and soft news are slowly eroding. B. News organizations are investing more in investigative journalism to compete in a saturated and competitive environment. C. We are increasingly getting political information from a variety of likely and unlikely sources. D. Consumers need to have better tools to determine the quality and democratic potential of news.

a. the boundaries between hard and soft news are slowly eroding

Which of the following best describes the concept of the public sphere? A. The discursive realm in between private spaces and the government B. The broadcasting sector that presents an alternative to the mainstream C. The manner in which one presents themselves to society, including clothing and behavior D. The policy that prevents Internet Service Providers from giving preference to certain companies

a. the discursive realm in between private spaces and the government

A coffee distribution corporation is in the process of buying a coffee bean packaging plant and a coffee bean plantation. This is an example of: A. Vertical integration B. Horizontal integration C. Access regulation D. Positive regulation

a. vertical integration

maximizing audiences=

all of these sources of revenue point to this. The underlying needs to serve the wants may be in question. Others say that the need for audience maximization encourages the distribution of whatever content offers the greatest instant stimulation

framing=

angle or lense, the way that the news story is being constructed, depending on how it is framed it will change your outlook, always "choosing" when telling a story -the media focuses attention on certain events and then places them within a field of meaning -journalists decide how to present the story in an appealing and comprehensible fashion

connotation=

associative meaning (second order) -more polysemic and culturally specific

The telegraph changed American culture because it: A. Made the news focus more heavily on the local issues of the day. B. Amplified the amount and diversity of information available in the news. C. All of the above. D. Made Americans more scared and suspicious of the outside world.

b. amplified the amount and diversity of information available in the news

News providers tend to favor stories of places or people familiar to the audience. Hodkinson refers to this as: A. predictability B. cultural proximity C. clarity D. personification

b. cultural proximity

With advertising's evolution came a changing focus in selling consumer goods. This changing focus is best described as: A. From high value to low value B. From use value to symbolic value C. From time value to space value D. From industrial value to social value

b. from use value to symbolic value

when we study the meanings people bring to and take away from media encounters, what are we studying? a. media regulation b. media audience c. media industry d. media context

b. media audience

When news organizations select which events to cover and exclude, they utilize: A. social construction B. news values C. horizontal integration D. gatekeeping

b. news values

Media industries employ formatting to: A. Compensate for over-producing content B. Reduce the risk associated with creating new media content C. Ensure they can acquire "A" list actors in their products D. Counter concentration of ownership in the business

b. reduce the risk associated with creating new media content

totemism=

community you can belong to through the product

Synchronicity, interactivity, and anonymous communication are examples of what? a. formats b. diversification c. convergence d. affordances

d. affordances

Which of the following accurately describes media conglomeration? A. Increased profits are prioritized over democracy B. Jobs can disappear in mergers C. Conditions for synergy become favorable D. All of the above

d. all of the above

according to Marshal McLuhan, new technologies... a. extend our senses b. render some technologies obsolete c. retrieve earlier technologies d. all of the above

d. all of the above

According to Kang and McAllister, contemporary users of Google are both ____ and ____. A. entrepreneurs and commodities B. consumers and participants C. employees and directors D. commodities and laborers

d. commodities and laborers

Which of the following is NOT one of Williams' and Delli Carpini's criteria for evaluating news in the new media environment? A. Transparency B. Pluralism C. Verisimilitude D. Immediacy

d. immediacy

What type of regulation would require television stations to air a minimum amount of children's programming each week? A. Negative content regulation B. Access regulation C. Copyright regulation D. Positive content regulation

d. positive content regulation

Which of the following is NOT true of the Social Construction of Technology perspective: A. There is a period of interpretive flexibility once a technology is invented, which can reveal unanticipated uses and meanings. B. Government regulation plays a role in shaping the uses of a technology. C. Eventually, a period of stabilization and closure is reached, when particular uses and meanings become dominant over others. D. Technologies themselves emerge in an inevitable fashion.

d. technologies themselves emerge in an inevitable fashion

What is typically true of media products: A. Their costs of production and distribution are usually the same B. Their costs of production and distribution are both relatively low C. They have low production costs and high distribution costs D. They have high production costs and low distribution costs

d. they have high production costs and low distribution costs

Identify the best definition of "hegemony": A. The rapid concentration of media industries B. The elimination of jobs resulting from commercialization C. Embedding advertising into news programs D. Unquestioned dominance of a system of thought or of a social pattern

d. unquestioned dominance of a system of thought or of a social pattern

Regarding the public sphere, the centrifugal effects of the new media environment mean: A. We are bring brought together more than ever before. B. We are less likely to publish media content ourselves. C. We are likely to encounter stories we wouldn't ordinarily encounter. D. We increasingly find ourselves in distinct and separate "public sphericules."

d. we increasingly find ourselves in distinct and separate "public sphericules"

payment between media companies=

distribution outlets pay for the right to screen, broadcast, print, or stream the content

narcissism...

emotional appeal to the individual personality or psyche, an emotional identification

genre analysis=

focus on relationship of different texts to on another and how they're cultured into genres (hierarchies, looks at establishment, some genres overlap/merge) -you expect to find certain things when watching a movie from a certain genre -Here the curiosity of analysts is focused acutely upon the relationship of different texts to one another and the ways they are clustered into particular types or genres

iconography...

goods themselves start to give way to a connotative symbolic meaning of the consumer (radio advertisements)

asynchronous...

happens at a single point in time -newspaper -written/done once and then can't really be changed

critiques and benefits of commercial vs. noncommercial...

idk noncommercial -trades perfection for authenticity -depends on local relationships, its grassroots aesthetic, and indomitable ingenuity -many people complain that they want to choose whether to pay for PSB services -limits to independence (ongoing issue of government influence reliance on continuation of direct funding from the state) -questions of quality -can reinforce class distinctions -better fit for new musical artists commercial -have to fit a certain genre -government restrictions -larger budgets to play with -can only play guaranteed hits -need to leave airtime for advertisements

how does rising use of infotainment in our media affect democracy and notions of citizenship?

idk we feel more fragmented?

shannon and weaver's model of communication...

information source --> (message) --> transmitter --> (signal) or noise source (received signal) --> receiver --> (message) --> destination -developed for the bell telephone company, which wanted to improve the efficiency of communication using technology -see communication as one-way, linear process

signifier=

means of representation (ex; "horse")

conglomeration...

media companies that become a part of a larger corporation, which own a collection of companies **can be very diverse in areas of the business world (eg. time warner purchasing multiple magazines to advertise their business)

model of the elements of media in socio-cultural contexts (chapter 1)...

media industry <--> media technologies and media content <--> media users all circles back to broader social and cultural environment

intertextuality=

media text that depends for another text for interpretation

denotation=

most immediate level of meaning

direct user payment=

per item payments and subscriptions. This could be premium channels, cover price of newspaper, book, movie ticket. The sun tried to make people pay to access their news online which resulted in a dramatic loss in their consumers.

For Postman, the Lincoln Douglas debates reflected which of the following? a. electronic culture b. print culture c. telegraph culture d. radio culture

print culture

According to Postman, word-centered, literate cultures are more _____ than electronic, visual cultures.

rational

in DuGay's Circuit of Culture model, which of the following categories includes marketing and advertising? A. identification B. consumption C. representation D. regulation

representation

sign=

signifier + signified

polysemy=

signs can be interpreted different ways

myth=

something that we believe is true, when it isn't -broader sets of cultural assumptions and beliefs evoked and reinforced by media texts **they help to shape the way in which we interpret denotations and connotations in media messages, but are themselves further developed and reinforced every time they are evoked **ex: female fulfillment through makeup

idolatry...

strong tone of the veneration about products, persuasion based on the qualities of the products, factual (print media)

advertising=

the buying and selling of eyeballs, advertisers constitute another set of corporate interests that influence the production and distribution of content

agenda setting:

the media tells you what to think about, but not how to think about an issue - frequency and clarity of the news event -refers to the ability of the mass media to signal to the public what is important -by virtue of providing differential levels of coverage to specific issues, the media are able to shape individual's perceptions of the relative importance and salience of these issues -media is successful in telling people what to think ABOUT

signified=

the represented concept

semiotics=

the study of the nature of systems of meaning

who > says what > in which channel > to whom > with what effect, is a ____ model of communication

transmission

narrative analysis=

treats media texts as composed of different types of storytelling (order in which events are presented is important) **sometimes have structure and similar characters as fictional stories -story telling **story can be song, movie, tv show, etc. -what does beginning, middle and end look like -Treats media texts as diverse as films, adverts, blogs, documentaries and news columns, as composed of different forms of storytelling and seeks to identify the conventions and devices with which such narratives are constructed -The order in which events are represented -Character types

lasswell's model

who says what in which channel to whom with what effect? -calls attention to issues -certain media is more appropriate for certain messages -produced a model oriented to the development of a broader understanding of the role of mass media in society

synchronous...

working in real time -radio/tv -live show- can be continually changed/updated

mise-en-scene...

you are constantly performing your identity and use products to craft that