mass com

Mass communication

Information transmitted to large segments of the population

Mass media

Means of communication to reach a large audience

The medium is the message

How message is given is more important then what is said

Culture

Expressed and shared values, attitudes, beliefs and practices that characterize a social group

Media revolutions

Printing press, films, radio

Roles of media

1. Entertainment

2. Information

3. Public forum

4. Watchdog Gov

Modernity

Divine comedy (Dante’s inferno)

Renaissance

Art (Leonardo, michaelangelo) space

Industrial Revolution

Steam engine

Enlightenment

Philosophers

Age of ideology

Radio, television

Postmodernity

Rejection of absolute truth (god)

Media literacy

Decoding messages and symbols transmitted in media

Kennedy/Nixon Debate

• first televised debate

• Radio thought it was a tie, tv thought Kennedy sweep

Disinformation

False information on purpose

Misinformation

Mistake

Walter Cronkite

CBS news anchor - most trusted man

Convergence

Coming together of distinct technologies to share content

Tastemaker

Identifies and influences trends

Influencers

Authority future that influences others

Gatekeeper

Determines what stories come out wand what doesn’t

Crowd sourcing

Using a large group of people to obtain information

Propaganda and Persuasion

• basic form of communication

• influence public perception in war and politics

Influence through bias

• media with political perspective

• social media to share false information

Violent messages desensitize

stereotypes can lead to oppression

Direct effect theory

audience passively accepts and reacts to messages

two step flow

users who consume media and share it with others

agenda setting

media defines what people think about

uses and gratification

people who use media to satisfy psychological needs or desires

symbolic Interactionism

Meaning is created through human interaction - media is way of human connection - media is creator of meaning

spiral of silence

people with a minority opinion silence themselves

cultivation analysis

media influences consumer perception of reality

Methods of Studying Media

• surveys

• interviews

• focus groups

• experiments

• ethnographies (study of culture)

Content Analysis

analyze content of media

Archival Analysis

reviewing historical documents

rhetorical analylsis

anaylze different styles used by media