Transcript Mass Communication a critical approach

Mass Communication:
A Critical Approach
CHAPTER 1
Mass Media and Our Lives
“How do media reflect and shape our world?
What roles and responsibilities do mass media
have? What is our role in media processes? How
(if at all) should these processes be changed?”
The Media are good and bad
 At their worst

The media can erode our quality of life
 At their best

The media help us understand events and trends
 Media literacy is crucial

We can have a say in the role media play in our lives
Mass Media Definitions
 Mass media are industries that create and
distribute the following to large numbers of
people:

Songs, novels, newspapers, movies, Internet services, TV
shows, magazines, other products
 Mass communication: the creation and use of
symbols that convey information and meaning to
large, diverse audiences through all manner of
channels

Examples of symbols: languages, Morse code, motion
pictures, binary computer codes
Evolution of Mass Communication
 Oral Era
 Information and knowledge circulates slowly through spoken
traditions by poets, teachers, tribal storytellers.
 Written Era
 Written word emerges, creating manuscript culture that
overshadows oral communication.
 Manuscripts are transcribed by philosophers, monks, stenographers
to record religious works, literature, personal chronicles.
 Manuscripts are commissioned and owned by members of ruling
classes.
Evolution of Mass Communication (cont)
 Print Era
 Gutenberg creates printing press in 15th century
 Books spur change.
 Resistance
to authority
 New socioeconomic classes
 Spread of literacy
 Focus on individualism
Evolution of Mass Communication (cont)
 Electronic and Digital Era
Telegraph makes transmission of media messages
instantaneous for first time in 1840s.
 Important electronic devices include film, radio, and
most important, television.
 Cutting-edge communication gadgetry emerges,
including smaller personal computers, cable TV, e-mail,
DVDs, DVRs, Internet, direct broadcast satellites, cell
phones, PDAs.
 Digital communication makes mass communication
instantaneous, inexpensive, global.

YOUR LIFE IN Media
Make a list of every type of media you can think of.
You have 2 minutes!
 WHAT ROLE DOES MEDIA PLAY
IN YOUR LIFE?
 List the mass media in order of MOST important to
least important in your life
 Pretend it’s 1960…….what would your list look like
then?
 What would it look like in 1860?
 WHAT WERE YOUR MAIN MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
TEN YEARS AGO?
 Remember: a decade ago, there was no…………
 YouTube (2005)
 Facebook (2004)
 Twitter (2006)
 iPhone (2007)
 Android operating system (2007)
 iPad (2010)
 Wikipedia (2001)
 CHANGES, CHANGES.........

Does a telephone still look like this?
 Does a radio still look like this?

Does a TV still look like this?
Or this?
Or this?
Media Convergence
 Convergence refers to the appearance of
older media forms on the newest media
channels.
 Convergence also refers to newspaper,
broadcast, and Internet outlets existing
under one corporate roof.
Evolution of a New Mass Medium
 Novelty, or development, stage: inventors and technicians try to solve
a particular problem
 Entrepreneurial stage: inventors and investors determine a practical
and marketable use for the new device
 Mass medium stage: businesses figure out how to market the new device
as a consumer product
Debates over Media’s Role in Everyday
Life
 People have always debated media’s merits and
dangers.

Ancient Greeks argued over whether exposure to plays would
corrupt youth.

Leaders at the turn of the 20th century feared that “low
culture” forms like vaudeville shows would undermine
American values.

Modern people fear that media violence spawns real violence
or media conglomerates unduly influence attitudes and
behaviors.
Content vs.
the Medium that Delivers the Content
What are the meanings that we attach to the
medium that delivers the content?
What does it mean to defile or burn a holy book
(Bible, Quran, Torah, etc.)?
Does that action have the same meaning if it’s done
to a tablet device or digital file of the book?
Is the medium more important, or the content?
Models of Mass Communication
(overview)
 Linear Model:
 Sender—message—mass media channel—(gatekeepers)—
receivers
 Media messages do not always get to intended receivers
 Receivers do not always interpret messages as intended
 Cultural Model:
 Individuals assign diverse meanings to messages
 Audiences actively interpret messages
 Media also shape audience through content
Models of Mass Communication (cont.)
 Social Scientific Model:
 Tests hypotheses with measurable data
 Provides valuable insight into questions about media
 Helps groups test their messages (politicians, corporations)
Linear Model
SENDERS
authors,
producers,
organizations
MESSAGE
programs, text,
images, sounds,
etc.
MASS MEDIA
CHANNEL
newspaper, book,
magazine, etc.
RECEIVERS
readers, viewers,
consumers
Cultural Model
(overview)
 Culture as skyscraper:
 High culture
 Low culture
Different media for each
 But many people consume both

 Culture as map:
 Culture is an ongoing, changing process

Modern vs. postmodern values
Culture as Skyscraper
HIGH CULTURE
 Ballet
 New York Times
 Public television




Harry Potter movies
Stephen King novels
HGTV
Facebook
 Red Lobster
 Toyota Civic
LOW CULTURE
• The Simpsons
• Lil’ Wayne
• Reality TV
Culture as a Map
Modern Period Values
 Four values of the modern period (Industrial
Revolution–1950s):




Working efficiently
Celebrating the individual
Believing in a rational order
Rejecting tradition/embracing progress
Postmodern Values
 Four features of the postmodern era (1950s–
present):




Celebrating populism (conflict between “the people” and
“the elite”)
Reviving older cultural styles
Embracing technology
Embracing the supernatural
Social Scientific Model
 Gather data using content analysis, experiments, and
surveys
 Code and count content of various types of media
 Conduct experiments using randomly assigned
subjects
 Conduct original surveys or use data from
existing federal government data
Critiquing Media
 Study results of both cultural and social science
media researchers


Understand their limitations
View with critical eye
 Learn to critique ourselves in methodical, disciplined
way
To Conduct Our Own Critiques
 Obtain working knowledge of the
particular medium
 Examples:
TV show, film, magazine, video game
 Transcend personal preferences and
biases
Critical Process
(overview)
 Description
 Analysis
 Interpretation
 Evaluation
 Engagement
DESCRIPTION
• Break down the
story
• Hone your
descriptive skills
ANALYSIS
• Find emerging
patterns
• Find connections
EVALUATION
•Make a critical
judgment
•Leave behind personal
tastes and biases
INTERPRETATION
• “What does this
mean?”
• Look for cause
and/or reason
ENGAGEMENT
•Make your voice heard
•Take action