Com 107 Syracuse University Exam #1
High Culture
"good taste" associates with fine arts
Low Culture
"taste of the masses" junk
Opinion and Fair Comment
A defense against libel that states that libel applies only to intentional misstatements of factual information rather than to statements of opinion
Citizen Journalism
A grassroots movement wherein activist amateurs and concerned citizens, not professional journalists, use the internet and blogs to disseminate news and info
Newspaper chain
A large company that owns several papers around the country
Qualified Privilege
A legal right allowing journalists to report judicial or legislative proceedings even though the public statements being reported may be libelous
Objective Journalism
A modern style of journalism that distinguishes factual reports from opinion columns; reporters strive to remain neutral toward the issue or event they cover, searching out competing points of view among the sources for a story
Yellow Journalism
A newspaper style or era that peaked in the 1890s, it emphasized high-interest stories, sensational crime news, large headlines, and serious reports that exposed corruption particularly in business and government
Magazine
A nondaily periodical that comprises a collection of articles, stories, and ads
Actual Malice
A reckless disregard for the truth, such as when a reporter or an editor knows that a statement is false and prints or airs it anyway
Pentagon Papers
A secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam
Herd Journalism
A situation in which reporters stake out a house or follow a story in such large groups that the entire profession comes under attack for invading people's privacy or exploiting their personal tragedies
Inverted-pyramid style
A style of journalism in which news reports begin with the most dramatic or newsworthy information
Interpretive Journalism
A type of journalism that involves analyzing and explaining key issues or events and placing them in a broader historical and social context
Public Journalism
A type of journalism, driven by citizen forums, that goes beyond telling the news to embrace a broader mission of improving the quality of public life; also called critic journalism
Right to Privacy
Addresses a persons right to be left alone, without his/her name, image, or daily activities becoming public property
Economic Shifts
Advertising revenues declining: -85% of NP ad revenue from print -Craigs List: brutal effect on classifieds Wall Street Skepticism
Joint operating agreement
An economic arrangement, sanctioned by the government, that permits competing newspapers to operate separate editorial divisions while merging business and production operations
Indecency
An issue related to appropriate broadcast content; the government may punish broadcasters for indecency or profanity after the fact, and over the years a handful of radio stations have had thier licenses suspended or denied over indecent programming.
Paywall
An online portal that charges consumers a fee for access to news content
Responsible Capitalism
An underlying value held by many US journalists and citizens, it assumes that business people should complete with one another not primarily to maximize profits but to increase prosperity for all
Individualism
An underlying value held by many US journalists and citizens, it favors individual rights and responsibilities above group needs or institutional mandates
Small-town pastoralism
An underlying value held by many US journalists and citizens, it favors the small over the large and the rural over the urban
Ethnocentrism
An underlying value held by many US journalists and citizens, it involves judging other countries and cultures and cultures according to how they live up to or imitate American practices/ideals
John Milton
Areopagitica (1644)
Newspaper Preservation Act (1970)
Authorizing the formation of joint operating agreements among competing newspaper operations within the same market area. It exempted newspapers from certain provisions of antitrust laws
Modern Period
Beginning with the industrial revolution to the mid-twentieth century
Pack Journalism
Characterization of news reporting in which reporters from different news outlets collaborate to cover the same story, leaving news reporting homogeneous.
Wire Services
Commercial organizations, such as Associated Press, that share news stories and info by relaying them around the country and world, originally via telegraph and now via satellite transmission
Feature syndicates
Commercial outlets or brokers that contract with newspapers to provide work from well-known political writers, editorial cartoonists, comic-strip artists, and self-help columnists
Hutchins Commission
Commission on Freedom of the Press The commission was established as a response to criticism from the public and government over media ownership
Linear model of communication
Communication is a one way process where the sender is the only one who sends message and the receiver doesn't give feedback or response
Miller V. California
Community standards; whole work lacks political, scientific, artistic or educational value
Conflict of Interest
Considered unethical, a compromising situation in which a journalist stands to benefit personally from the news report he/she produces
Libel
Deformation of a character in written or broadcast form
Libertarian Model
Encourages vigorous gov. criticism and supports the highest degree of individual and press freedoms
Obscenity
Expression that is not protected as speech if these three legal tests are all met: The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material as a whole appeals to prurient interest The material depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way The material, as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value
NY Times V. Sullivan
For average person to prove libel, they must show: Public statement was false Damages occurred Publisher was negligent Public figures have harder time showing libel Must show actual malice (the intention or desire to do evil; ill will) Knew statement was false & published it anyway, or they acted in reckless disregard of truth
Conflict-oriented journalism
Found in metropolitan areas, newspapers that define news primarily as events, issues or experiences that deviate from social norms
Consensus-oriented Journalism
Found in small communities, newspapers that promote social and economic harmony by providing community calendars and meeting notices and carrying articles on local schools, social events, town government, property crimes, and zoning issues
Social changes brought on by Printing Press
Helped spread knowledge Challenges authority of Papacy (95 Theses and Protestant Reformation) Growth of nationalism Spread vernacular languages
Digital Communication
Images, texts, and sounds are converted into electronic signals that are then resembled as a precise reproduction of a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice
Shield Laws
Laws protecting the confidentiality of key interview subjects and reporters' rights not to reveal the sources of controversial information used in news stories
Gag Orders
Legal restrictions prohibiting the press from releasing preliminary info that might prejudice jury selection
Authoritarian Model
Model of journalism and speech that tolerates little public dissent/criticism of gov. Holds that the public needs guidance from an elite and educated class
Hays Office
Motion Picture Production Code https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn3dCIJ91Nw
Human-interest Stories
News accounts that focus on the trials and tribulations of the human conditions, often featuring ordinary individuals facing extraordinary challenges
Literary Journalism
News reports that adapt fictional storytelling techniques to nonfictional material; sometimes called new journalism
Investigative Journalism
News reports that hunt out and expose corruption, particularly in business or government.
Parasocial Relationship
One-sided relationships, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other's existence
Major Eras in communication
Oral - harder to expand knowledge to others, stories change with oral communications, stories die with the person, can't build on the knowledge because you are limited to what a human brain can hold and remember Written - record knowledge that people have and easily share ideas/stories Print Electronic - telegraph (instantaneous over distance), photography (share images, see what something looks like without artist interstation), radio (send messages without wire, messages from anywhere), TV (moving pictures in homes) Digital - ARPAnet
Section 315
Part of the 1934 Communications Act; it mandates that during elections, broadcast stations must provide equal
Communist/State Model
Press is controlled by the gov. State leaders believe the press should serve gov. goals
Social Responsibility Model
Privately owned US follows this model
Mass Communication
Process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large & diverse audience through media channels
Prior Restraint
Prohibits courts and gov from blocking any publication/speech before it actually occurs
PICAN Standards
Public Interest Convenience and Necessity Radio Act of 1927/Communications Act of 1934
underground press
Radical newspapers, run on shoestring budgets, that question mainstream political policies and conventional values; the term usually refers to a journalism movement in the 1960s
Fairness Doctrine
Repealed in 1987, this FCC rule required broadcast stations to both air and engage in controversial issue programs that affected their communities and, when offering such programming, to provide competing points of view
Muckrakers
Reporters who used a style of early 20th century investigative journalism that emphasized a willingness to crawl around in society's muck to uncover a story
Motion Picture Production Code
Set of industry moral guidelines that was applied to most United States motion pictures released by major studios
Shoemaker and Reese Model of Influence
Social system level: Cultural norms Economics Social institutions level: Journalism profession Organizational level: News companies (NYT) Routines level: Professional norms Individual level - bias and credibility: Journalists Editors
Slander
Spoken language that defames a person's character
Narrative
Storytelling
Culture
Symbols of expression that individual groups and societies use to make sense of daily life and articulate value
Engagement
The fifth step in the critical process, it involves actively working to create a media world that best serves democracy
Description
The first step in the critical process, it involves paying close attention, taking notes, and researching the cultural product to be studied
Evaluation
The fourth step in the critical process, it involves arriving at a judgement about whether a cultural product is good, bad, or mediocre; this requires subordinating one's personal taste to the critical assessment resulting from the first 3 stages
Newsworthiness
The often unstated criteria that journalists use to determine which events and issues should become news reports, including timeliness, proximity, conflict, prominence, human interest, consequence, usefulness, novelty, and deviance
Sound bite
The part of a news report in which an expert, a celebrity, a victim, or a person on the street is interviewed about some aspect of an event or issue
Red Lion Case
The parties in two separate cases sought review of the constitutionality of the fairness doctrine and component rules by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC's position was upheld as constitutional in one case and the rules were held unconstitutional in the other.
News
The process of gathering info and making narrative reports - edited by individuals on a news organization - that create selected frames of reference and help the public make sense of prominent people, important events, and unusual happenings in everyday life
Analysis
The second step in the critical process, it involves discovering significant patterns that emerge from the description stage
Newshole
The space left over in a newspaper for news content after all the ads are placed
Interpretation
The third step in the critical process, it asks and answers the "What does this mean?" and "So what?" questions about ones finding
Pass-along readership
The total number of people who come into content with a single copy of a magazine
Photojournalism
The use of photos to document events and people's lives
Agenda Setting
Theory that if a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important
General-interest magazines
Types of magazines that address a wide variety of topics and are aimed at a broad national audience
Fourth Estate
Unofficial branch of the gov. that monitors the other 3 for abuses of power and provides info necessary for for self governance
Framing
Which narratives or aspects of a story get prominence
Advocacy Journalism
abandons objectivity; presents info from a perspective (Bias)
Convergence
all the changes that have occurred over the past decade and are still occurring
Partisan Press
an early dominant style of American journalism distinguishing by opinion newspapers, which generally argued one political point of view or pushed the plan of the particular party that subsidized the paper
Media Literacy
attaining and understanding mass media and how they construct meaning
Normative model of journalism
attempt to present info as objectively as possible (without bias)
Cross Platform
business model that involves consolidating various media holdings
Communications
creations and use of symbols that convey info and meaning
Mass Media
cultural industries
Critical Process
descriptive, analysis, interpretation, evaluations, and engagement
Public Domain
gives the public free access to the work
Copyright
legally protects right of authors and producers to their published/unpublished writing, music, lyrics, TV, movies, or graphic designs
Postmodern Period
mid-twentieth century to today
Penny Paper
newspapers that because of technological innovations in printing, were able to drop their price to one cent beginning in the late 1830s thereby making papers affordable to the working and emerging middle classes enabling newspapers to become a genuine mass medium
Progressive Era
period of political and social reform that lasted roughly from the 1890's to the 1920's
Selective Exposure
seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural benefits, values, and interests
Herbert Gans' cultural values of Journalism
studied the newsroom cultures of CBS, NBC, Newsweek, and Time in the 1970s, has generalized that several basic "enduring values" are shared by most American reporters and editors.
Gatekeeping
the process of deciding what is news