Introduction to Media Studies Review
Preferred/Negotiated/Oppositional Reading
Definition: Significance: Example:
Stereoytpes
Definition: Significance: Example:
War of the Worlds
Definition: Significance: Example:
Homogenization Hypothesis
Definition: Ben Bagdikian's belief that the lack/absence of competition in the media industry will lead to homogenous media products that serve the interests of a small number of owners. For example, homogenization revolves around a standard where products will be similar to each other, whereas hybridization incorporates elements from other products/cultures/etc to create a hybrid. Significance: this encourages competition in the media industry for diversity and survival. Otherwise, the media industry would be limited in viewers with its lack diverse products. This would in hand affect the economy. Example: McDonalds is an American food chain that introduces the American concept/culture of fast food to other parts of the world. It has expanded so much that the name "McWorld" is an example of homogenization.
Horizontal/Vertical Integration
Definition: Vertical integration is the combination of 2+ production normally operated by companies (i.e. one owner acquires all aspects of production and distribution of a single type of media product). Horizontal integration is the acquirement different kinds of media (one company buying different kinds of media, concentrating ownership across differing media types, in opposition to vertical integration, where one owner buys all aspects of production of a media product) Significance: Vertical integration benefits companies because it allows them to have more control over a media product, reduce costs, and improve efficiencies. It is similar to assigning job tasks/specialization to get jobs done efficiently. Horizontal integration, on the other hand, is beneficial for companies competing in the same industry because it can increase market share, reduce competition, and create economies of scale (cost advantages when production is efficient). This gives the company great control. Examples: Vertical- a movie company hiring talent agencies to handle signing scripts and actors, production studios to create films, and varying venues to show the movies (i.e theaters, cable channels, tv networks, other streaming services) Horizontal- a media conglomerate can expand a fictional universe spanning across film, tv, books, record labels, video games, amusement parks, etc. as promotion. Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe is a prime example because it is constantly producing new content that spans across all Disney products: Marvel movies (Avengers and hero-specific movies), tv programs (Agents of SHIELD), comic books, film/tv soundtracks, video games, theme parks, merchandise (clothing, toys, collectibles)
Goffman's Gender Advertisements
Definition: a book written by Erving Goffman that examines the behavioral representation of cultural assumptions about the nature of genders. The book focuses a lot on the nature of photography and the implications photographs have, especially in relation to the female gender presented in popular advertisements. Significance: Goffman's "commercial realism" refers to when advertisers try to present the advertising world as reality. However, he argues that people should rethink advertisements and their meanings when they don't find advertisements strange because advertisements are actually a distorted reflection of things in reality. He also argues that there are codes to identify gender, which are portrayed in advertisements in gender roles. Example:
Conglomerate
Definition: a company owning multiple companies involved in mass media enterprises (i.e. tv, radio, publishing, films, theme parks, merchandise, the Internet, etc.) Significance: Example:
Modern Racism
Definition: a contemporary form of prejudice against racial or other groups of minorities. Modern racism indirectly and covertly condemns the cultural values of the out-group and experiences negative emotions when interacting with such minorities, but does not act on those emotions. Instead, modern racism avoids blatant racism, changing social attitudes by including less direct expressions of racial discrimination and more subtle, stereotyping ways of racism. Significance: this sometimes makes it harder to classify cases as "racial discrimination" because mainstream media is more aware/sensitive to stereotypes and avoids blatant racism. However, the media continue to include controversial racial/ethnic images, so modern racism can continue to exist as racism or groups can see this as an opportunity to improve the situation for minority groups. The mere inclusion of more racial individuals does not solve the problem because of the way they are represented/used often exists as modern, unspoken racism through its implications. Example: news coverage of Hurricane Katrina included clips of African Americans, but depicted them as helpless victims or looters, whereas they depicted whites as rescuers and protectors. This exemplifies modern racism because of its implicated meaning/thought that many people hold similar stereotypes about black&white people.
Spin
Definition: a form of propaganda that involves the creation and diffusion of a specific interpretation of an event, campaign, or policy, with the aim of creating consensus and public support. It's a tactic used in PR to manipulate/spin information fed to reporters. Significance: this gives PR/those "spinning" control over events/persuading others how to think because of the frame the story they spinned is shared. This gives them the ability to spread their bias to influence public opinion. Example: political races exemplify spinning tactic. For example, one candidate can purposely leak misinformation about an opposing politician to cast them in a negative light and hopefully bring themselves to a more positive light.
Ideology
Definition: a system of meaning that helps define and explain/make sense of the world, making value judgments about that world. It is often a world view or collective view of which attitudes/beliefs are important Significance: ideology allows the media to reach a big audience, in which it offers different perspectives, allowing different implications and value systems to form. Often though, ideology neglects or forgets to represent certain groups/views, introducing the presence of more competition in the industry as more and more people search for groups/ideologies to follow Example:
Culture Jamming
Definition: a type of media resistance that is used to critique, subvert and "jam" the spread of consumer culture. It is meant to disrupt media culture and its cultural institutions. Its main goal is to foster progressive change by exposing the methods of domination of a mass society (or political intent behind commercial culture). Significance: culture jamming demonstrates the shift in roles of audience members to users as content creators because instead of simply participating/engaging with media, the public has learned to evolve and take more control of their relationship with media, creating their own content to fight the existing media culture. Example: "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" is an example of culture jamming because of its satirical, postmodern, sci-fi aspects consisting of conspiracy theories. The conspiracy are mostly imaginary, but are mixed with enough truth to make readers hesitate and reconsider the "truths" they've been blindly following.
Genre
Definition: a type/style/category of media content within media mediums (i.e. horror/romance films or sitcom/comedy tv) Significance: genres allow the audience to know what to expect from the media content they are viewing when they know the genre or what kind of content they are going to see. Genres also allow audiences to have likes and dislikes toward certain genres over other ones. From this, genres also allow for ideological analysis when people have genre preferences because it can reflect what they want/expect in their own lives. For example, sitcom television displays a real-feel situation for the viewers to be able to connect with the characters in their every-day lives. Example:
False Consciousness
Definition: a way of thinking that prevents a person from perceiving the true nature of their social or economic situation. False consciousness is linked to the concept of ideology, in which one held "false" ideas because the ideas did not match their interests. Significance: this could be dangerous in the media as news outlets can use this to their advantage to gain more readers/a larger audience if they know and target what to feed the audience. Example: This is not always the most ethical approach because this gives way for more things like fake news to arise
Agenda Setting
Definition: agenda setting allows the news media to influence the audiences' perception of important or newsworthy topics (direct their attention to or away certain topics). It does not tell people what to think, but rather what to think about. Significance: this allows news media to have biases in politics, economics, culture, etc. It also limits the free-will people think they have because they are indirectly being led/controlled by those who are shaping/deciding newsworthy topics. Agenda Setting, though not exactly alike, is similar to gatekeeping in which certain topics are filtered and prioritized over other topics. Example: In hindsight, Trump is just another person, but anything he says or does is treated as breaking news, so people are always thinking about Trump's actions. Advertisements about Olympics or the Super Bowl are also examples of Agenda Setting because all media news outlets are always advertising these sports games, making it impossible for anyone to ignore their existence and presence.
Concentration of Ownership
Definition: also known as media consolidation or media convergence, where few individuals or organizations control large shares of the mass media Significance: this causes concern because some believe that this limits opportunities for other, smaller organizations; this also threatens and limits the marketplace of ideas and First Amendment freedoms, possibly leading to censorship because concentration of control of information limits ppls' choices in media and information. Censorship is also a fear because a small group with that much power can choose to cover only news in their interest or news that large audiences will follow, limiting other thoughts. Consolidation directly affects journalism. Example: the possibility of Sinclair Broadcasting buying Tribune Media exemplifies media consolidation because this would allow Sinclair to broadcast news to 70% of Americans. This was threatening because Sinclair has largely conservative views.
Mickey Mouse Protection Act (1998)
Definition: also known as the "Copyright Term Extension Act" of 1998 extended copyright to cover an individual creator's lifetime plus 70 years or in the case of corporate authorship, 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter. This means that it postponed or froze the advancement date of the public domain in the US for works covered by the older fixed term copyright rules (authors were given exclusive rights to their work for 14 years, renewable only once if they were still alive, for a max of 28 years. After that, copyrighted works became part of the public domain for anyone's use). Significance: this can allow creators to pass on the benefits of their work to their heirs or they can profit from this. Others against the act argued that it undermined the original purpose of copyright law to incentivize creativity and originality, while supporting public domain with content to enrich media corporations. Example:
Tokenism
Definition: the practice of making only a symbolic effort to perform a particular act for its appearance. This is generally used in recruiting a small # of ppl from underrepresented groups to give the impression of sexual/racial equality within a workforce. Significance: this gives the impression that media is becoming more inclusive, but it still includes racial/sexual stereotypes so the inclusion cancels out. It only appears to be inclusive on its surface level. Example: Star Wars: The Force Awakens casted a black man to play Finn to serve as a symbol of racial inclusiveness. However, he is knocked unconscious for the majority of the film so we don't even get to see him that much.
Interpersonal Communication
Definition: any type of communication between two who likely know one another. This can be done verbally or nonverbally as long as messages are carried out and interpreted well to maintain the relationship between the two. Either way, interpersonal communication is highly interactive. Significance: Interpersonal communication requires all parties to be both sender and receiver in order to be productive. This becomes tricky when the Internet comes into play because the Internet can serve both interpersonal and mass communication; it all depends on the media user(s) because people can either directly message each other via the Internet or they can choose to share posts for an audience to see (mass communication). This enables media users to be more considerate when using the Internet/media since the line between private and public is a very thin line and they have the power to choose what media content to access and when to access it, whether or not to share other media content, to respond/comment on media content or to create their own media content. Example: phone calls from my grandma because there is a connection between us (we know each other) and it is personal (1:1). It is highly interactive since it is only between the two of us, so both of us act as senders and receivers. A media example would be direct/private messaging on social media. Instagram stories are examples of mass communication since the all followers of that person can see their story, but when people swipe up to react or comment, it becomes interpersonal communication since they likely know each other or will get to know each other and the content becomes the focus on their 1:1 interaction.
Cultural Imperialism
Definition: argues that global products are dominated by Western, most often US, products. More specifically, cultural imperialism focuses on the United States' global influence through its commercial media system. This introduced the ethnocentric thinking about the superiority of American culture over other cultures. Significance: The US maintained ownership and control as other nations became dependent on the US because the US media companies are well-financed and well-developed infrastructures, able to produce high-quality film and television programming, unlike other nations that don't have the resources to develop an equally strong infrastructure. Because of this reliance, the surge of Western media posed a threat to traditional local values as US media tends to promote individualism & consumerism, which conflicts with some nations' traditional values where the products were seen, but locally produced media content remained popular within its own nation, as it is attuned to local cultures. Examples: beauty standards/models abroad are tuned to American standards. This is why foreign beauty standards are attracted to lighter skinned and thin models. BLM began as an American movement, but because of cultural imperialism of Western news in foreign news, other nations are also involved with the messages of the BLM movement. Protests that happened in 2020 also happened abroad in countries like Korea and France. Fast food and Starbucks are American concepts and American Ways of Living and the commercials in foreign countries introduce an "American Way of Living" to those countries. The successful expansion of the presence of these chains in foreign nations also demonstrate the presence of cultural imperialism.
Medium Theory
Definition: belief that the nature of the medium can also influence social impact in addition to the message itself. Medium Theory focuses on the potential of impact because it can influence social factors differently because of its always-changing nature. Significance: since technology is always changing, the medium theory introduces both optimistic and cautious thoughts on how that will affect society. Thus, the two largest variants of the medium theory include Marshall McLuhan's Optimism and Neil Postman's Pessimism. Mcluhan's Optimism focused on the media's influence on how individuals perceived/thought about the world and rather than only focusing on the influence of media, people should also focus on each medium and how each disrupts tradition and reshapes social life. McLuhan argued that the real message was not the message itself, but actually the way the media shares the message and the ways the media extend our senses and alter our social world, leading to his most famous theory that "the medium is the message" which implies that every new medium is basically just another medium. This made McLuhan a technology enthusiast because he saw each medium as a way to shape our senses and social outcomes and he saw electronic media as an opportunity for new ways of thinking. Postman's Pessimism, on the other hand, argued that the rise of television was the central cause of the decline in society's seriousness. He challenged the media/print world in 3 fundamental ways: 1. since the public now had access to information from/about faraway places, newspapers began to clutter with irrelevant stories. He argued that news no longer had to have a relationship to its audience and news did not have to be informational/functional/relevant/traditional news as long as it was "new" and enticing 2. because the telegraph made it easy to transmit information which was not relevant to readers, news no longer had to have any connection to action, in which the audience became used to seeing news about events far or difficult for them to handle, so the news encouraged feelings of powerlessness. 3. sacrificing context, television now had access to speed and abundance of information. News stories did not have to connect to one another anymore because of the steady flow of incoming information. New things are constantly being reported, neglecting older stories. Postman argued that quantity inevitable became more important than quality because of the rise of television. Example:
Mass Society Theory
Definition: believes that crowd behavior can influence individuals in ways they would normally not have acted if not for the crowd influence. This later became more specific in which the theory focuses more on modern life and how the mass society theory has evolved with time. Generationally speaking, crowds were more private and kept to themselves, but with time and with the influence of changing times and crowd behaviors, being more open/vulnerable in a mass society became normalized. (Those socially isolated/individualism is vulnerable to the appeals of conformism/mass society behaviors.) Significance: media can play a huge role in this because of its persuasive nature. Media's persuasive nature can bring together/unite masses of people, referring back to the homogenization theory because if the mass society reacts to one another's behaviors and mimic it, it demonstrates the homogenization of certain behaviors. Example: postwar America exemplifies mass society theory because American behaviors/trends leaned towards isolation, but with the rise of media and tv, the mass population was vulnerable to the influence of implied messages in media content. Ultimately, the mostly isolated public transformed into a united group because the presence of media resembled a collective identity and way of thinking for the American crowd.
Censorship
Definition: censorship suppresses speech and information based on objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or irrelevant measures (or national interest in terms of military censorship). The government or other private institutions can control censorship Significance: censorship is meant to restrict the media and regulate content, but ways to avoid/go around the regulations have risen throughout history. Thus, media groups can respond to constraints by complying, pre-empting (self-censorship), re-interpreting rules, ignoring regulations, or challenging regulations. Example: military censorship includes the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics confidential and to protect the public; the governments define this as "national interest." During WWII, the media complied with military restrictions and regulations, but the media acted more independently during the Vietnam War effort, showing tv images of dying American soldiers despite the government claiming that victory was near.
Oligopoly
Definition: control by a small number of firms; when a few firms dominate a market, eliminating competition through buyouts or forcing them due to lack of resources or finances. The companies left surviving make up a media oligopoly. Significance: oligopolies, or concentration of media ownership is often cautioned against because it could lead to a commercially driven mass market media loyal to sponsors over public interest, only a few companies representing the interests of a minority elite, or slower innovation and increased prices when a market-based competition is lacking. Example: mass media and news outlets owned by 6 large corporations (Disney, Time Warner, ViacomCBS, NBCUniversal, News Corporation) OR smartphones and computers mainly dominated by Apple IOS and Google Android for smartphone operating systems and Apple and Windows as the main computer operating systems.
News Values
Definition: criteria for gatekeepers that influence the selection and presentation of events as published news. Significance: These values help establish and determine which stories are "newsworthy" and which are not. These "values"/criteria include the basic facts (who/what/where/when/why/how), proximity (if closer, will impact the audience more with stronger sense of urgency), prominence (famous place/person/event gains more attention), timeliness (current news > last week's news), oddity (unusual/shocking stories grab audience's attention), consequence (if the impact of the news directly affects the audience, they will likely follow the event), conflict (conflict has drama which entertains and interests audiences), human interest (emotions grab attention), extremity (world records or anything with extremity or superlatives grab attention especially if people want to try to beat them or if someone was dishonest), scandals, and impact (if there are a lot of people involved, it will spark interest and the number of people affected by the event will affect the newsworthiness). Example: a news headline indicating that a human bit their dog would grab audience attention because of its odd value. This is odd because it is an uncommon occurrence since it is usually the dog that bites the owner/human, not the other way around.
New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)
Definition: debate over media representations of the developing world. this movement was meant to make global media representation more equitable and to formally tackle global economic inequality. The declaration suggested a need to hear the oppressed voices that had not been included in the established media, a position that threatened/rattled the status quo. Significance: this introduced the debates over "the right to communicate" as basic human rights vs. the simple, free flow of information, arguing that this doctrine would reinforce Western cultural domination in developing countries. And so, developing countries saw this as an attempt to balance the scales of information production and distribution that had previously favored the Western nations, but some in the West saw this as a form of censorship that threatened their freedom to interpret the world and to communicate globally. The internet allowed users to be more active in following this case and voicing their support or concerns. Overall, the case demonstrated the difficulty in influencing the nature of global media, especially when some have more power than others. Similar difficulties rose again with the rise of the internet and net neutrality. Example:
Orientalism
Definition: depictions of East/South Asian, Middle Eastern, North African culture & behavior in Western media. More specifically, orientalism exaggerates and distorts Middle Eastern people and cultures, displaying them as exotic, uncivilized, and dangerous. Significance: this created negative illustrations/stereotypes of Middle Easterners, persuading audiences to believe these stereotypes/misappropriated illustrations of Middle Easterners. Example: Disney's Aladdin (Arabian Nights, ruffians, swords, thieves, etc.)
Hybrid Culture Thesis
Definition: different from cultural domination, in which hybrid culture refers to the coexistence and harmony of cultures, whether it be oral, written, printed, mass, media, etc. Cultural hybridity highlights the fluidity of culture through time. Significance: because there are limits to how much Western culture persuades local cultures, the West (more specifically, the US) actually has to pay attention and acknowledge other cultures for it to adapt and continue to persuade/lead, ultimately creating a hybrid culture. Example: MTV started in America, but expanded globally with more local versions like MTV Africa, MTV Asia, MTV Australia, MTV Europe, MTV Latin America and others. By following the US model, the other versions feature international and local musical artists, exemplifying hybrid culture. Starting off as a US media product, MTV hybridized when it expanded to other countries and adopted its local/international artists and aspects
Hegemony
Definition: drawn from Antonio Gramsci (Italian Marxist) who wrote in the 20s an 30s, introduced the idea that hegemony connects questions of culture, power, and ideology with the dominance of one group over another, supported by legitimating norms and ideas. Dominance occurs by which ruling groups can maintain their power through force, consent, or a combination of the two. Significance: Example: student government in school. This sets a group of students to dominate over the larger, more general groups of students. The smaller dominating group leads the larger group in decision making, event planning, etc.
Telecommunications Act (1996)
Definition: eased restrictions on tv and radio station ownership, leading to more concentrated ownership patterns. It required that, ever 4 years, the FCC would review all broadcast ownership rules to eliminate or modify any that are no longer in the public interest due to increased media competition. Significance: this reshaped the radio industry because the easing of ownership restrictions increased the number of stations one entity could own in a single market (consolidated radio ownership) Example: national radio before this act could only own 20 AM and 20 FM stations, but the act eliminated that restriction.
Technological Determinism
Definition: identifies technology and technological developments as the central causal element of social change. These include the inevitable effects technology can have on users, organizations, and societies. Significance: this is opposite of social determinism; this is believed to greatly influence/shape the world independent of political, economic, or social factors. Technology offers opportunities and places limits on what a media medium can be used for, making some types more suitable for some purposes than others. Since technology influences society, the influence itself can also change over time. New technology influences society in a different, restructured way. Example: McLuhan's "the medium is the message" in which the same message can be displayed to the audience, but only the medium changes and determines ways the message will be perceived by the audience.
Ratings
Definition: industry monitoring by self-regulation rather than government involvement. Ratings are mainly focused on alerting parents about content that may not be appropriate for children. Significance: rose as a form of self-regulation to avoid government regulation of media content. Ratings gave more freedom to movies/tv programs in content because before ratings, movies needed "Hollywood endings" in which crime could occur but justice had to prevail and the audience could not sympathize with the criminal. "Hollywood endings" also entailed anything that reinforced respect for authority, confirmed all was ok with society, and excluded anything critical of dominant social institutions (i.e. marriage, government, justice system, religion) to avoid mal influence on viewers. Example:
Agency
Definition: intentional and undetermined human actions. Agency can reproduce or change social structure, despite being limited by structure. Significance: agency allows people to act and make choices. When an audience or institution has agency, they can use a medium however they want to communicate a message. Example: Black Lives Matter movement is an intentional social movement created by the public, bringing attention to and fighting racially motivated violence against black people and other minorities. BLM is a wide movement with many branches because of peoples' ability to act as they please that aligns with their own understanding/interpretation of BLM.
Objectivity
Definition: journalistic objectivity entails fairness, facts, and nonpartisanship. It separates personal values from facts, putting faith in facts. Significance: began as fact-based journalism where journalists did not even consider personal values. In the beginning, journalists genuinely worked to identify and report only the relevant facts. However, during WWI, wartime propaganda meddled with facts, showing the public how easily facts could be manipulated, which made journalists cynical and mistrusting of facts. At the same time, Public Relations rose as a profession, also feeding into the newfound mistrust of news because those in PR acted as "spin doctors," feeding information to reporters, controlling access to powerful clients, and staging public formal events (i.e. press conferences/photo ops) for the media. This was dangerous because PR professionals could spin the facts, dispensing information to make it appear as something else. Even then, choosing what to report on objectively is not objective in itself and objective journalism, in actuality, serves to favor those in power because journalists mostly speak with government officials and end up reproducing their view of the world. Example: objective journalism often acts as the mediator of a debate or argument. For example, at BOE meetings where they are debating whether to ban certain books from the school curriculum, the reporter can have his/her own opinions about the issue, but as an objective journalist, he/she must interview both sides- those who support the ban and those who oppose it. In addition, when writing the report or story, they should convey both arguments equally in neutral language.
Alternative Media
Definition: media sources that differ from dominant types of media (i.e. mainstream/mass media) in terms of content, production, and/or distribution. Alternative media is independent from large media corporations and government control Significance: Alternative media is more feasible with more limited financial resources and promising control for the producers. It has a narrower scope, often sacrificing reaching a broad audience in order to focus on a smaller audience because it is exercising "freedom of speech," covering topics that advocate the interests of those excluded from mainstream media (the poor, minorities, LGBTQ+ groups, etc) Example: 1828's "Cherokee Phoenix" and 1851's "The Golden Hills' News" were the first Native-American and Asian-American newspapers. These newspapers are examples of alternative media because these minorities are often neglected from mainstream media and rather than trying to change mainstream media from within, these newspapers created their own paths, creating an alternative media platform.
Active Audience
Definition: media users who have a more active presence than mere receivers because they can choose what media content they access, when to access/use media, share & distribute media content via social media likes/reposts/retweets, etc., respond & comment on media content, and lastly, they can choose to create their own content. They actively engage with, interpret, and respond to media texts. Significance: The relationship between media content & technology and media users and an active audience is a 2-way street, in which both impact each other. Media does not just determine the thoughts and behaviors of users because not everyone is able to interpret the messages properly; active audiences are constantly making sense of media content based off of their personal contexts. Thus, the encoding/decoding models and the uses and gratifications theory both apply to the active audience because the audience is actively involved in choosing what media content to watch/participate in and how so the media has to pay attention to the audiences' trends and likes/dislikes. Example: When celebrities or brands are promoting their work or a product, they often engage with the audience by creating polls or creating an incentive for the audience to engage in commenting, purchasing, or reposting such as free products or a chance to win a video call/fan meeting with an artist/celebrity. Because the audience can choose to be active or inactive, media content creators have to find a way to engage with the active audience.
Star System
Definition: method of creating, promoting, and exploiting stars in Hollywood films. Significance: Movie studios select promising young actors to promote, focusing mainly on their image (often creating personas, stage names, etc). Movies also often cast big stars just to use their big names to entice viewers since people are more likely to watch something with someone they recognize. Example: FRIENDS often had guest stars like Brad Pitt or Robin Williams because it was difficult to maintain a steady, loyal audience so star appearances helped reign in viewers.
Echo Chambers
Definition: occurs when users only interact with like-minded individuals, so the users are never exposed to alternative views, only reinforcing their existing views. Significance: when people only reinforce their existing views, this can increase social and political polarization/isolation and extremism, leading to social and political tension because media platforms will feed users similar stories to ones they've previously watched or read, while downplaying opposing views to gain more attention. Thus, the ideal of a global village to spread equal information to promote greater understanding is not reflected in today's media reality. Example: when you watch a video on Youtube, your Youtube recommendations will show videos similar to the one you watched. Your explore page in Instagram will also reflect the content you've searched or watched.
Social Constructionism
Definition: one approach to understanding the role of technology in society. Social constructionism emphasizes that technology is made up on inanimate objects, so people ultimately have the control to decide how technology is developed and used. Significance: This suggests that technology and social forces are interdependent and mutually influential because social forces (i.e. cultural norms, economic pressures, etc) fundamentally shape how technology is designed and developed and users influence whether or not technology is successful based on whether or not the technology is used or not. Social constructionism follows the perspective that all social reality is socially constructed because people are usually influenced by their own creations because they forget that such things were created because it seems normal. Social reality is produced through 3 steps: 1. people create society through mental/physical activity 2. over time, these creations seem objectively real 3. people internalize the norms and values of their culture, thereby being influenced by their own creation In relation to technology, people create technology, so they therefore have the power to alter how to use it. Example: gender roles through film/tv representation and advertisements. The ideas of clear distinct gender roles were constructed through the persistence and repetition of human created ideas of how women and men should behave in certain settings. Thus, it became normalized and taken for granted, forgetting that the idea exists from human's own thoughts and ideas.
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
Definition: previously known as Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPDA); this worked with the Legion of Decency to work together to censor films without government involvement. It rates films for suitability to various kinds of audiences, aids the studios in international distribution, advises them on taxation and manages public relations for the films. Significance: In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that the Hollywood studio system was an illegal restraint of trade, separating theater and studio ownership. Because of this, theaters began to import foreign films that were more erotic than the previously simplistic American films, which became very popular. Controversy rose from the inclusion of sexuality, violence, explicit language, and mature themes, so Congress wanted to require a rating system to please public concern. MPAA then initiated self-regulation and collaborated with theater owners and film distributors in 1968 to develop a rating system that would not require government regulation and filmmakers would adopt voluntarily. Example: Midnight Cowboy held a rating of NC-17 (previously X) because of its adult themes. This meant that theater owners would not admit children under the age of 17 for movies with X ratings. Film ratings: G (general audiences), PG (parental guidance suggested), PG-13 (parents strongly cautioned), R (restricted), NC-17 (no one 17 and under admitted). Television ratings use similar ratings.
Structure
Definition: recurring pattern of social behavior or constraint on human action through rules and policy in certain situations. Significance: structures can be enabling, encouraging people to achieve something. However, structure can also limit people, in which it can only encourage so much. They are limited by accepted standards of behaviors and are no longer encouraged once they achieve what they were hoping to achieve. The media plays an important role in transmitting messages for others, but it can also transmit values. There are many roles in media structure, which can cause tensions. For example, tensions between structure and agency occur between the media and other social institutions (must understand the social, economic, and political contexts and institutions outside the control of media personnel set legal and economic limits within the which the media industry must operate), relationships within the media industry (social positions, roles, and practices of journalists, writers, producers, filmmakers, media execs, and other media personnel in which how much autonomy media personnel is limited and varies depending on positions. Do journalists really shape the process of news reporting or content of the news? Do musicians have total freedom in creating music? Etc.) and between the media and the public (media content & tech influence users and users impact the media industry and its content. So the free structure users have in choose what, when, how to use media can be limiting). Example: school systems- principals, teachers, janitors and students have roles they must accept and carry out. This limits relationships teachers can have with students because a certain level of professionalism must be maintained, even if teacher/student pair feels casual and informal with one another.
Mediatization
Definition: refers to a social change process in which media is influential in and deeply integrated in different aspects of society. Mediatization attempts to build a theoretical framework that observes the influences of media and communication. Significance: media is highly influential and present in social lives in which social institutions and cultural processes have changed character, function, and structure because of media's influence & presence. Paired with the media theory, mediatization encroaches on daily life through the different ways users use media. Media is so present and influential because of its ability to "virtualize" social institutions in which all activities can be experienced through the media. In addition to social life and social movements, mediatization also influences political systems and interactions and can even cause citizen alienation if individuals are unable to be influenced by media the same way as the rest of society. Mediatization affected communication and interaction, in 4 ways: 1. media extended the ability for people to communicate across time and space [i.e. people can interact with others across the globe in different time zones] 2. media replaced certain forms of face-to-face interactions [i.e. online banking] 3. media infiltrates and coexists with everyday communication [i.e. checking your phone during class or during a conversation with someone else] 4. "media logic" (dominant way of thinking/acting on certain media mediums; a format that establishes often unspoken rules and codes for defining, selecting, and presenting media content) encourages people to adjust to their attitudes and behaviors [i.e. political media logic- when politicians adjust how they speak to get attention or make it easy for journalists to copy quotes to put in a news story] Example: music used to be an exclusively live experience, but with media being able to transmit sound, radios were able to broadcast and reproduce musical sound. Then came recorded music, which allows people to enjoy music at their own comfort, not needing to go out to seek music. This year, with COVID19, many live music shows were canceled, but with the use of media, artists were able to hold virtual concerts, replicating what would have taken place if not for COVID.
Synergy
Definition: refers to the dynamic where components of a company work together to produce benefits that would be impossible for either of them to generate if they were separately owned. Significance: synergy is the interaction/teamwork of two or more organizations/agents to produce a combined greater product. They are better and more successful with teamwork than if they worked alone. This helps allow smaller organizations to grow. Example: Skyfall and Coca Cola working together benefitted both in promotions, viewers, buyers, and customers.
Fairness Doctrine
Definition: required broadcasters to cover public interest topics that included controversial issues and contrasting views regarding the topics, as long as it was honest and fair. States were given flexibility in deciding how to present contrasting views; it could be done through news reporting, shows, or editorials and there was no requirement for equal time for opposing views, as long as it was presented. Significance: this was meant to serve the public interest, suggesting there was no single public interest. This also suggested that the government can't regulate media once and for all as long as technology and the economy is constantly changing. The FCC believed that regulation that promoted diversity in programming and services was in the public's interest, unaware of the future struggle it would have against Reagan's advocation for deregulation across all industries. This "free market" successfully dismantled public interest regulation, resulting in the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, making broadcast license renewals automatic, and even eliminating requirements for broadcasters to file program logs for the FCC to monitor what was being broadcast. Because of this, advertising increased, pressuring broadcast journalism to make a profit. This finally resulted in the FCC abolishing rules that limited how quickly stations could be sold, paving the way for mergers in the media industry that converted broadcast journalism (once considered the public responsibility of media companies) into another profit-making venture. Example: without regulation and monitoring, television became a lot more free. For example, children's television became more violent and commercialized because it had to find a way to be appealing to viewers to make a profit.
Children's Television Act (1990)
Definition: required stations to include educational television in Saturday morning showings, leaving room for interpretation of "educational" programming Significance: since room for interpretation was given to broadcasters, they were able to define almost anything as educational; broadcasters found loopholes/innovative ways to respond to the restrictions and regulations, demonstrating that regulations are usually just a partial constraint. Example: "The Flintstones" or "Spongebob" are considered "educational" children shows, but are really more entertaining than educational.
Cultivation Theory
Definition: suggests that the exposure to media for a long period of time affects the audiences' understanding, attitudes and behaviors towards the social world. So, the more time people spend watching or "living" in the television world, they are more likely to believe that reality aligns with the social world portrayed in television. Significance: Cultivation Theory has long-term effects in which watching enough television will gradually affect the audience over time and so, those who spend more time watching media or absorb more media are those who are more influenced to believe what they see is "real". Thus, the images and ideological messages portrayed in television heavily influence perceptions of the real world. Example: The persistence of violent media such as Inglorious Bastards or Deadpool suggests to media watchers that violence in the real world is normal and often, causing people to either act violently as a result or reflect the Mean World Syndrome, which revolves around the idea that exposure to violent media will create a distorted view that the world is more violent than it actually is.
Polysemy
Definition: the ability of media content/a media text to contain multiple meanings. Significance: multiple interpretations could cause misunderstandings, but this means that polysemic texts can reach to a broader audience because this means that anyone can interpret/understand the text. This is highly desirable for mass-market media, where producers are competing for the attention of audiences. Example: the scene in Shrek when Shrek says ogres are like onions because they have layers and personalities, but Donkey misunderstood/misinterpreted it as ogres stink the way onions stink. While not wrong, it wasn't Shrek's intended meaning, illustrating polysemy. Outside of these two's interactions, Shrek is also an example of polysemy because of its success among viewers. Shrek was and still is a popular movie among children and young adults.
Net Neutrality
Definition: the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should offer equal/neutral access to the internet, without discrimination or different charge based on user, content, website, platform, app, etc. This means that ISPs have to give access to all Internet sites at the same speed and under the same conditions, without speeding up another site or app. Significance: all businesses/websites/etc are always thinking about how to get ahead in the market, so there was alawys interest in creating a different sort of internet experience that would be more profitable for ISPs. To prevent this and to protect the open internet, public interest advocates began calling for the establishment of formal net neutrality regulations that would require ISPs to treat all internet traffic equally. This mean that they would not be able to limit or favor access to specific sites or speed up/slow down traffic from other sites. So, this sparked a long-lasting controversy. Example: ISPs like Verizon opposed net neutrality because it wanted its consumers to have fast and easy access to the Internet so it would better their business. Other internet producers and tech giants like Google and Facebook, on the other hand, relied on an open web, so they supported net neutrality so that they could fairly compete with one another with equal internet access. ISPs like Verizon wouldn't like having to share internet access with other companies because it would slow down their service.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Definition: the independent agency that regulates radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable communication across the US. Significance: Example:
Digital Divide
Definition: the inequality between those able to access and benefit from the Internet and those who are not. Significance: The divide exists between many demographics: young/old, race, class, etc. and as internet access expanded to be more inclusive, access and participation began to diverge from another, resulting in a "participation gap" or "second-level digital divide," leading to the studies of how people use the internet, their motivations to use it, and who creates internet content. Both of these divides work hand-in-hand in explaining why certain people access/use the internet more than others. (mostly reflects the vast economic inequalities) Example: Those who are more well-off have more access to internet than those who are less able to afford it. This explains why college graduates or those with higher incomes are more likely to participate in social media or write reviews or comments than those who don't have access to the internet because those with a higher income are more likely to have high-quality internet access.
Spiral of Silence Theory
Definition: the theory that a society or a more specific social group might isolate/exclude individuals that have different opinions. This stimulates a fear of isolation in people. Significance: Because of the fear of isolation, people often conform to group expectations, leading to the "bandwagon effect" where people follow or support positions just because they are the popular choice. So, people in the minority view are likely to remain silent when they think that the popular choice/view/opinion does not align with theirs, allowing dominant views to advance and gives people in the minority the incorrect impression that everyone agrees with them. In public discussion or in media, minority views can be squeezed out since media plays a vital role in looking for the most popular view since media is focused on gaining and retaining viewers/readers. This may silence some crowds, but it works well in keeping in check views that can be potentially dangerous (i.e. racist/violent/misogynistic/etc) 5 key dynamics of this process: 1. societies require a base of basic values and goals and exert social pressure on individuals to agree, inciting a fear of isolation 2. as ppl develop their own opinions, they fear isolation and end up conforming to the opinion that is perceived to be the most popular anyways 3. ppl monitor their environment, paying attention to the opinions of those around them so they can find the most common opinions and future opinion trends so they can blend in 4. people are only likely to voice their views/opinions if/when they believe their views are popular or will be popular. The vice versa happens too, where they will remain silent if they think their views are not in the majority. 5. the tendency of one person to speak up and the other to stay silent starts as a spiraling process, which increasingly establishes one opinion as the prevailing one Example: When Trump became president, more racist and anti-Semitic views among the public surfaced because news media showed this behavior from President Trump himself, causing people to think it was okay/normal to behave similarly. OR 2016 election vs. 2020 election- people did not proudly admit they were Trump supporters back in 2016 because Trump was not the popular choice and being Democratic was the popular party at the time. However, after Trump won that election, his followers became bolder and prouder so in the 2020 election, there were more people who voiced that they were Trump supporters.
Encoding/Decoding
Definition: this focuses on how people interpret meaning from the media content they use. This model of communication also observes how media message are produced and disseminated. Encoding involves someone consciously or subconsciously using references to imply/send a message. Decoding is the process of understanding and interpreting the meaning of a message. Significance: Encoding and Decoding helps media producers express a "preferred reading" (the main meaning they want audiences to take away) from their work. This relies heavily on shared cultural values and assumptions of how the world works. The encoding/decoding codes build on taken-for-granted assumptions that do not have to be explained, but encoders have to be aware of the dominant culture that will shape the most common interpretation. So, for encoding/decoding to work ideally, encoders have to be aware of its audiences and how they interpret meanings based off their surroundings/circumstances, balancing agency (audiences constructing meanings) and structure (patterns of interpretation and the social locations that shape them) together. Example:
Globalization
Definition: very wide concept that can involve the internationalization of finance and trade, the development of international organizations (i.e. the World Bank), the increased circulation of people, and the diffusion of digital technologies. In relation to media, globalization relates to the constantly changing role of geography and physical distance as electronic media allows people to instantly communicate with one another in real time despite a large distance between them. Globalization also relates to culture, in which culture becomes more accessible to larger numbers of people since electronic media allows for the information, ideas, images, and sounds of different cultures to reach networks of people outside the culture from which the media originated. Significance: The spread of electronic media connects people from around the world with one another, allowing culture to become more accessible to larger numbers of people. However, while globalization can make cultures more accessible, it can have equally negative consequences like allowing for the rise of centralized media conglomerates. While the ideal of a global village from globalization is meant to share equal information and culture for a general understanding, it is much harder to actually obtain because of the obstacles in its social impact. Example:
"Subliminal Advertising"
Definition: visual or auditory stimuli that the conscious mind can't perceive. This is often inserted in TV commercials or songs. (AKA HIDDEN MSGS) Significance: this is used to strengthen the persuasiveness of advertisements and to convey a message. However, this goes against the US Constitution's First Amendment because individuals are unaware of receiving certain information. This is dangerous because it can and does influence people's opinions; it is most effective with negative images and words, altering people's moods. Example: movie theaters used subliminal advertising with Coca-Cola and popcorn at concession stands to increase sales. Hearing or even seeing words related to buying snacks is enough to persuade people to do so.
Framing Theory
Definition: while Agenda Setting tells people what to think about, Framing allows the media to choose HOW to present their content. A frame refers to the context in which the media places facts. Framing includes a set of concepts and perspectives on how people perceive communications about reality. Framing can manifest in any form of communication, whether it be verbal or visual. Significance: frames organize information, allowing news and other media platforms to have a bias and influence their audiences. However, frames vary in effectiveness; framing is most effective when individuals have no contact or previous experience with an issue or topic and are dependent on the media and the internet for information because they don't have previous knowledge to take into consideration. Example: almost all political news stations demonstrate effects of framing. Fox and CNN have opposing political views, so their content have opposing frames when reporting information. Their purpose and goal is to organize and "frame" information in a way that corresponds to what they want the audience to see.
