Mass Comm Test 2

Hostile Media Bias

"Media never covers my issue fairly" The "liberal media" and the "MSM"

Economists claim that, by 2010, US book sales will reach

$47 billion

DISNEY: KEY STRATEGIES

-Exploit as much synergy as possible among subsidiaries -Emphasize the global movement of content - Adopt new distribution technologies

When was moveable-type printing invented?

1440

the British colonies

1639 - first press established in Cambridge, MA 1810 - books published by small, family-run printing companies

1829

512 newspapers Published by small printing companies run as family businesses Partisan Major social/political forum

Framing happens

: In the audience members' heads B: When the journalist writes the story

Priming

A message about peanut butter primes different responses for different people The effect of the prime depends on what we know and what we've heard about peanut butter

Globalization

A way to increase profit Media materials produced for global markets from the beginning

Google: Key strategies Expand advertising activities

AdWords AdSense Create detailed databases of "digital footprints"

electronic books

Amazon's Kindle - potential for change Digital textbooks for schools Google's digitization project

John Milton - Areopagitica

Argued for a marketplace of ideas Free media system and competition guarantee truth

Good share of the mind

Audiences' awareness of the product

before the 15th century books

Books were handwritten Papyrus scrolls - 3,000 BC, Egypt Scriptoria in ancient Greece

Illuminations:

Books with drawings copied by hand, usually by monks

Consumer books

Categories are not about content: instead the AAP groups books by distribution methods. Trade books (51%) Mass-market paperbacks (25%) Religious books (11%) Book clubs (8%) Mail-order books (3%) University press books (2%) Subscription reference books (0.1%)

Dime novels:

Cheap paperbacks (10¢) Aimed at men and boys Adventure, western, detective Sold by mail subscriptions, retail factory-like system of production - predictable successes

Digital convergence

Computer technology is basis for production, distribution,exhibition

Hostile Media Bias: research

Conditions under which people perceive media as especially hostile Effects of the hostile media bias Low trust in media Low trust in "the system" Dissaffection and "dropping out," or mobilization?

Crossing media boundaries:

Creation of content for use in different media Transformation of content to fit other media and their audiences

MEDIA LITERACY Globalization - concerns

Cultural colonialism Stifles nation-specific entertainment Reproduces consumerism

Industry responses

Digital Rights Management and "watermarking License download through secure services

17th century, Britain -Strong governmental control of the book market until the 17th century

Early books supported the monarchy 1509 - licensing system

the modern book industry

Educational/training books ($21 billion in revenue in 2005) Consumer books Dominated by a few companies Small publishers focus on market niches Distribution is key - large companies have competitive advantage

EDUCATIONAL BOOKS

El-hi - kindergarten to 12th grade Higher-education materials - college and beyond Corporate training materials - post-college training in business, law

1980s

European publishers buy US publishers Bertelsmann (Germany) - buys Doubleday, Bantam, Dell, Random House

NEWS CORP: KEY STRATEGIES

Expand rapidly into digital realm Nurture diverse global channels of distribution Emphasize entertainment, news, sport

NEWS CORP: KEY STRATEGIES Expand rapidly into digital realm

Exploit the advertising potential of social networking, e.g. MySpace Create content/ distribution venues for mobile markets

1500s-1700s

First printed books - mostly religious texts 1500s - books challenged the dominant Catholic Church 1500s-1700s - great societal impact due to books

NEWS CORP: KEY STRATEGIES Nurture global distribution channels

Focus on distribution, rather than content creation Maintain distribution clout in traditional media

Which of these sets of subsidiaries belongs to News Corp?

Fox News, New York Post, Harper Collins

mid-20th century

Highly segmented book industry until 1950s 1960s - Time Warner, CBS, and Advance Publications bought major publishers

production Trade press v. university press - distinctions:

How manuscripts identified Who recommends manuscripts Marketing What constitutes a "hit"

GOOGLE: KEY STRATEGIES

Improve global attractiveness of search engine Expand advertising activities Create products that build audience loyalty

Audience segmentation

Increase in the number of audience segments due to media targeting

Media fragmentation

Increase in the number of mass-media outlets

Crossing media boundaries - goals:

Increase revenue (e.g. syndication, licensing, product placement) Achieve a good share of the mind (e.g. branding)

Domestic novels:

Inexpensive paperbacks like the dime novels Aimed at women Tear-jerkers Series, retail outlets

1700s BRITISH COLONIES

Initially, newspaper publishers appointed by local governors 1725 - trial of James Franklin of Boston ends pre-censorship in British Colonies Printed and published New England Courant Ben Franklin's brother 1736 - trial of journalist John Peter Zenger Charged with seditious libel for printing facts that looked bad for the royal governor Defended by Alexander Hamilton truth as defense against libel charges

Media Effects Research on Framing

Investigate the effect of different frames on people's opinions These often don't find powerful effects Instead researchers investigate under what circumstances and for whom which types of frames have effects Figuring out what frames exist in news (and other) media around particular issues Study why certain frames get used for certain issues News routines Leadership from elites

Episodic vs. Thematic: Iyengar, 1991

Iyengar, 1991 Media tend to present social problems in episodic terms (individual, short-term) instead of thematic terms (collective, long-term) This patterns encourages audiences to attribute responsibility for solving the problem to the individual instead of the collective

Movable-type printing

Johannes Gutenberg Individual letters cut out of wood

Why are textbooks so expensive?

Maybe they're not! Small percentage of overall cost of college Think of the work that goes into writing a textbook Many fields change quickly and books must be updated Ancillary materials can be costly to produce Prices are rising: 40% wholesale price increase between 1999 and 2004! Frequent updates are publisher's answer to the used book market Books are aggressively marketed to professors teaching large courses In person, by e-mail, and by mail Think of the revenue in this room alone

Spiral of Silence: Media What does media have to do with it?

Media helps us know when we might be in the minority And provides a forum from issue-minority viewpoints

Media franchise

Media properties that are highly profitable over time and in many media formats beyond their original appearance as a film, TV show, etc.

Growth of conglomerates - concerns

Narrowing of societal agenda Threat of commercialism, homogenization Harm to the democratic process

Iyengar's media effects research about framing found When news presents an issue in terms of individuals

News consumers attribute responsibility to the individual

Strategy vs. Policy

News coverage tends to focus on the game of politics, and the competition between players, instead of the features of policy Particularly true during elections Leads to audience cynicism and may contribute to the erosion of efficacy

Ethical vs. Material

News media tend to construct issues in terms of opposing rights / moral principles, as opposed to economics or pragmatics Encourages simplified electoral decision making and attributions to candidate character

Individual vs. Societal

News media tend to frame issues at the individual level, as opposed to the societal level, due to dominant news values This frame distinction interacts with other coverage elements to influence the complexity of thought, tolerance judgments

Risk vs. Gain

News media tend to present issues in terms of what could be lost rather than what could be gained after a given change People are risk averse: they support changes presented in terms of avoiding loss more than they support the exact same change presented in terms of achieving gain.

1600s BRITAIN

Newspapers did not exist before the invention of the printed press (1440) 1600s - restrictions on press for fear of sedition Merchants main audience for newspapers

The Penny Press

Newspapers produced in the early 1830s that were sold on the street at 1 penny/copy Changes in newspaper financing Changes in how news defined Changes in how news process organized

3pe

One of the most reliable findings in mainstream mass media research

Horizontal integration

Ownership of assets in different media industries Integration of those assets for mutual profit

Which of the following is an example of the hostile media bias?

Partisan beliefs that the media are unfair

Spiral of silence

People don't like to stand out too much It's hard to be the lone liberal in a roomful of conservatives, or vice-versa If you think you're in the minority, you might not speak up much Psychology research shows the part about discomfort with being in a minority It's hard to test a theory that operates on the societal level

Which of the following is an example of the third-person perception?

People perceive themselves as less influenced by pornography than other people.

Google: Key strategies Products that build loyalty

Personnel/cutting-edge technology for innovative products Famous workplace culture in addition to expansion by buyout Example: Android Hard-to-duplicate technology

Strategies to reduce risk:

Pre-publication research Selection of authors with positive track records Advance on royalties to lure star authors

1700s - ADVERSARIAL PRESS

Press with the power to argue with the government Published criticism of British colonial policy of taxation without representation

Book:

Printed Publication At least 49 pages Has covers Not a periodical

Newspapers

Printed products Created on a weekly or daily basis Released in multiple copies

NEWS CORP: KEY STRATEGIES Emphasize entertainment, news, sports Production of home-viewing

Production of home-viewing entertainment that builds audience loyalty Sports programming

RSS

Real Simple Syndication Checks your favorite websites for you so you can see what's new and read it all in one place You can subscribe to any website with a little orange icon in the address bar One example of an RSS feed tool: google.com/reader Great way to become savvy in any field!

Repurposing

Reuse of content for different aims

What is News Corp?

Rupert Murdoch Fox (Movies) Fox (TV) Fox (Cable) Sky TV (satellite TV outside the US) a Marketing company Newspapers (in the US, New York Post, Wall Street Journal) Books: Harper Collins Hulu (News Corp does list this on the corporate page) MySpace American Idol

before the 15th century books Ancient Romans:

Selected works Advanced money to authors Chose format, size, price Developed markets

What is Google?

Started by then-Stanford grad students Larry Page and Sergey Brin Expansion through buying up internet startups YouTube Some Google products a search engine Ads Picasa Google Docs an RSS reader Google Scholar Automatic news aggregator (Google News) Gmail Chrome (a web browser)

THE PENNY PRESS,1830-65 Social & technological changes

Steam-powered cylinder press Low-cost paper Rise of the "common man" Increased literacy rates

DISNEY: KEY STRATEGIES New distribution technologies

Stream content to its corporate website Sell content to web distribution sites (unlike CBS) Brand mobile-phone business The text book is out of date on this one: Disney dropped this venture.

Priming: research

Survey researchers are careful to avoid unintentionally priming particular ideas using the wording of a survey question Cues in a story can prime ideas that become a frame for the issue Rebel vs. terrorist example from Monday's lecture Priming in ads, especially political ads

Third Person Effect

The bigger the 3pp, the more likely the person wants to censor the material Again: the bigger the gap between how much someone things negative material will harm him or her and how much s/he thinks it will harm other people.... The more s/he will support censoring that material

Metaphorically:

The content of a message lights up the part of our brain responsible for that topic Nearby areas light up too.... And those nearby ideas have been primed

1825-75

US book business becomes an industry 1830 - the invention of the steam-powered press Rise in literacy rates Development of railway system

Digital convergence

Unauthorized copying, sharing, downloading Illegal distribution of content (e.g. MP3)

MEDIA LITERACY

Understanding the considerations that guide media firms is essential to bringing about change Critics argue against media conglomeration, saying it allows a small number of huge firms to dictate what society will see across its most important media channels Critics are concerned that many media channels today have become "retread" machines where media firms display their wares over a variety of different platforms Critics argue that "personalization" of media offered through data collection by media corporations like Google may limit our exposure to other viewpoints

Google: Key strategies Improve global attractiveness of search engine

Use ISP to direct surfers to local versions of Google From Germany: http://www.google.de in Swahili: http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=tw Try some side-by-side searches! Maximize search results Massive market share: 65% but Microsoft (Bing) and Yahoo are gaining: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20016795-93.html Recent clashes with government of People's Republic of China Traffic from China currently redirected to Honk Kong http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10566318 http://www.google.cn

DISNEY: KEY STRATEGIES Exploit synergy

Use of animated films for theme parks, books, stores, magazines, Broadway musicals, and the licensing of creative rights

exhibition

Varies by type of book: El-hi - first exhibited to evaluation boards Exhibition via bookstores - dominated by largest bookstore chains (e.g. Barnes & Noble) Large bookstore chains - advantage over independent bookstores: Able to offer more books at better prices Able to attract authors for book signings Decreasing numbers of independent bookstores

DISNEY: KEY STRATEGIES Emphasize global movement of content

Walt Disney International created in 1999 to boost global revenue Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland

What is Disney?

Walt Disney Studios Pixar Touchstone Mirimax Parks Disneyland, Disneyworld Parks in Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo Disney Cruise Lines Products Toys, Food, Health and Beauty World's largest publisher of children's books Media ABC ESPN Many, many radio stations (see table 6.1) Many TV stations (see table 6.1) Distribution Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/about Disney is a part owner of Hulu along with NBC, News Corp and others Hulu is not listed in Disney's list of holdings! Why do you think this is?

Framing is

When mass media have the effect of pointing out certain aspects of an issue

Synergy

Whole greater than parts Media organization channels content into wide variety of media outlets

distribution

Wholesalers: Discounted copies from the publisher - profit Benefit publisher by filling orders Unsold copies returned for credit

Milton's famous pamphlet titled Areopagitica

a. was a plea for the freedom of the press

Consequence of media fragmentation

audience erosion(decrease in % of the audience using specific medium/outlet)

The largest advances usually go to

authors who are involved in other media

Newspapers mostly read by elites

because of illiteracy and high prices Small-circulation newspapers (~1500)

Through digitization

different media share same content

The modern book industry is divided into these three categories:

el-hi, college and postsecondary, professional training

Framing:

frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation -tells us what parts of reality to pay attention to

. Conglomeration

holds several mass-media firmsin different media industries Intense mergers/acquisitionsin the 1980s and 1990sto increase revenue

Third Person Perception

is the size of the gap between how much you think the content affects you and how much you think it affects that other guy

Third Person Perception

is the size of the gap between how much you think the content affects you and how much you think it affects that other guy Calculated from your answers to the first 2 questions For potentially harmful materials, people think they are less affected than others People think they are more likely than other viewers to be affected by beneficial media content

17TH-18TH CENTURY, BRITAIN 1680s

law guaranteed free expression for members of Parliament

Few publisher executives believe that

online sales will completely replace "brick-and-mortar" stores

18th century Britain

publishers separate from booksellers

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..."

The concept of the adversarial press slowly evolved and was influenced by

the outcome of the James Franklin trial the outcome of the John Peter Zenger trial the introduction of truth as a defense in a seditious libel case