Media, Community, and Citizenship Midterm Study Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering topics from Media, Community, and Citizenship notes including automaticity, media regulation, market strategies, persuasion theories, and history of news and public relations.

Automaticity

A mental state where our minds operate without any conscious effort from us, in which we encounter most media messages.

Factual Information

Raw, unprocessed, context-free information.

Social Information

Information we learn from observing others.

Filtering

Deciding whether to ignore or pay attention to a media message.

Meaning Matching

Matching symbols with their denoted (literal) meaning.

Meaning Construction

Making sense of (constructing) the meaning of a message.

Filter Bubble

The restriction of a user's perspective that can be created by personalized search technologies.

Selective Exposure

Tendency to favor information which reinforces our pre-existing views and avoid opposing information.

Niche Audience

Small(ish) audiences defined by a shared interest or need, which media producers control and construct.

Cross-vehicle Promotion

Promoting media messages through other outlets to increase exposure, which increases revenue and keeps costs low.

Geographic Segmentation

Dividing an audience by geography or location.

Demographic Segmentation

Dividing an audience by distinct but stable characteristics such as race, class, age, income, and marital status.

Social Class Segmentation

Dividing an audience by their attitudes about money, such as saving and spending.

Geodemographic Segmentation

Audience segmentation based on the principle that people choose to live in neighborhoods with other people like them.

Psychographic Segmentation

Audience segmentation that measures beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and motivations.

1934 Federal Communication Act

Act that created the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to regulate all mass media.

Media Deregulation during the 1980s

Period of mass deregulation and media conglomeration marked by Mark Fowler becoming FCC chairman in 1981 and overturning existing regulations to reduce oversight.

Mark Fowler

Became chairman of the FCC in 1981 and overturned existing regulation, reducing oversight during a period of mass deregulation and media conglomeration.

1996 Telecommunications Act

Bill Clinton's overhaul of the 1934 Federal Communications Act that regulated the internet for the 1st time and claimed to foster competition through further deregulation, resulting in massive media conglomeration and consolidation.

Innovation Stage

The mass media lifecycle stage where an invention makes a new form of media possible, consisting of technological innovation and marketing innovation.

Technological Innovation

Development or adaptation of a new medium for transmitting information.

Marketing Innovation

Attracting audiences to use new technology.

Penetration Stage

The lifecycle stage where the public accepts a new medium and incorporates it into daily life.

Lowest Common Denominator Principle

A programming principle to avoid themes, languages, characters, etc. that might offend or alienate, aiming to appeal to many and offend few.

Long Tail Marketing

A marketing strategy that identifies and markets to niche audiences (e.g., Amazon).

Talent

The ability to attract large audiences.

Direct Support

Buying media products directly.

Indirect Support

Buying advertised products and giving attention to ads.

Economies of Scale

An economic concept where fixed costs decrease as output expands while variable costs increase; in certain media with no variable costs, a larger audience creates more costs.

Economies of Scope

Increasing revenue through multi-product production by creating variations of a product, essentially cross-vehicle promotion.

Horizontal Mergers

Buying another company of the same type.

Vertical Mergers

Buying up suppliers and distributors.

Conglomerate Mergers

Companies buying other companies of various types.

The Central Route

A route in the Elaboration Likelihood Model using effortful, argument-based thinking that requires both motivation and ability; formed attitudes last longer, resist counter-arguments better, and predict behavior more reliably.

The Peripheral Route

A route in the Elaboration Likelihood Model relying on simple cues like a speaker's likeability or sheer number of arguments, taken when either motivation or ability is missing.

3rd Person Effect

The tendency for people to believe that media messages affect other people more than they affect themselves.

Sleeper Effect

When the impact of a persuasive message increases or becomes more noticeable over time, even though the message's source may initially seem unreliable or untrustworthy.

Social Comparison Theory

Theory stating that people evaluate themselves by comparing themselves to other people, through upward or downward comparisons.

Upward Comparison

Comparing yourself to someone you perceive as better than you.

Downward Comparison

Comparing yourself to someone you perceive as worse off in some areas.

Next-Step Reality

The idea that media messages usually contain enough reality to feel familiar and relevant, but add something beyond ordinary to make the message interesting.

Bumpers

Five second blurbs between ads and shows.

Host-selling

Using kid show TV hosts to sell products.

Parental Media Regulation Styles

The four styles parents use to regulate media: (1) Imposing Restriction, (2) Co-viewing, (3) Active Mediation, and (4) MPAA Ratings / v-chips.

Context of Violence in Children's Media

Childhood media violence that is (1) glamorous, sanitized, funny, (2) done by attractive hero, (3) justified and unpunished, and (4) hyper realistic, consequence free.

Social Learning

The tendency to look to others for appropriate social behavior.

Four Dimensions of Media Literacy

1) Cognitive, 2) Emotional, 3) Moral, 4) Aesthetic.

Benjamin Day

Launched 'The Sun' in 1833, ushering in the Penny Press.

Penny Press

A 1 cent single sheet newspaper with simple language that was highly sensationalized and incorporated advertising.

Yellow Journalism

Provocative, misleading, tabloid-style news.

Objective Journalism

Neutral, impartial, informative news, which NYT tried a different style of in 1886.

The Fourth Estate

An unofficial branch of government (the news and media) that checks the power of other branches.

Constraints Shaping News Production

(1) Constant deadlines, (2) limited access to sources, and (3) limited financial resources.

Inverted Pyramid Formula

A news story formula that crafts stories in order of importance.

Entertainment Formula

A news story formula that begins stories with shocking information that grabs audience attention.

Simplified Extended Conflict

A news story formula that simplifies and polarizes an event to draw it out as long as possible.

Contextual Bias

News bias characterized by an absence of historical, social, and political context.

Commercial Bias

News bias favoring attention-grabbing, entertaining, soft, and marketable news.

Ivy Lee

Known as the Father of Public Relations; published the Declaration of Principles (1906), held his first press conference for the 1906 Atlantic City train wreck, defined the role of PR as Honest Brokers, but failed to stick to his declaration at the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado (1914).

Press Release

Official statements to the press and way of exerting control over news stories

Edward Bernays

Nephew to Signmund Freud, first textbook author that taught PR classes, argued that PR manipulation is essential to democracy, without manipulation it’s chaos, committee on Public info (CPI) - encouraged support of WW1

Ownership(1st of the Propoganda model)

• Media corporations seek profit → can create bias.

• Stories threatening corporate interests face more bias/censorship.

• Objectivity may be sacrificed for profit.

Advertising (2nd in the propaganda model)

• Media depends on advertisers to pay production costs.

• The real product being sold is audience attention.

• Stories conflicting with advertisers may be marginalized or excluded.

Sourcing (3rd in the propaganda model)

• Media relies on powerful sources for information.

• Journalists concentrate where news happens (ex: White House).

• Challenging powerful sources can mean losing access.

• Media may avoid stories that harm corporate sources.

Flak(4th in the propaganda model)

• Negative responses to media stories/programs.

• Includes complaints, lawsuits, petitions, speeches, and political action.

• Used to discredit people/organizations challenging corporate narratives.

Fear (5th in the propaganda model)

• Media can exploit public fear of perceived threats.

• Fear can encourage hatred and acceptance of authority.

• Portrayals of enemies can silence criticism of powerful interests.

• Examples: past—communism/Soviet Union; today—terrorism/“War on Terror.”