COM 107 CHP 1: Mass Communications

Mass Personal Communications

A method of communication that mixes and matches aspects of mass and interpersonal communication.

Three Media Roles You Play

Media Consumer: Scrolling or watching videos

Media Producer: Posting Pictures and creating content

Media Citizen: Being able to analyze different sources of information, educating yourself, and being responsible for the other two roles.

Eras of communication

Oral, Written, Print, Electronic and Digital (Current)

Linear Mass Communication Model

According to this model, mass communication is a linear process of producing and delivering messages to large audiences. Senders (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, ads, images, sounds) through mass media channels (newspapers books, magazines, radio, television, the Internet) to large groups of receivers (readers, viewers, and consumers).

Gatekeepers

People (news editors, executive producers, and other media managers) function as message filters, making decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers.

Cultural Mass Communication Model

Every element of the linear model is an active part of complex cultural conditions and processes, with far more going on than a message moving from point A to point B. The cultural approach has five elements: media texts, technologies, industries, users, and the cultural context within which the other four are embedded.

High and Low Culture

Elitists determined what would be classified as high or low culture. High culture is identified with “good taste” and higher education consisting of things like museums, theater, and ballets. Low culture is associated with “questionable” tastes such as reality television, teen pop music, violent video games, etc.

Two ways Convergence occurred in the digital era.

What are the key differences between mass nation and niche nation?

Mass Nation: A society in which a large percentage of a diverse population takes in the same media.

Mass Media

Cultural Industries that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspapers, movies, video games, Internet services and other cultural products to large numbers of people.

Mass Communication

The process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels.

Selective Exposure

People expose themselves to the media messages that are most familiar to them.

Convergence

A process where various forms of media and communication technologies merge into a single digital platform, enabling cross-platform interaction and content distribution.

Narrative

“Media is in the narrative business”.

Modern Era (1800 - 1950s)

Characterized by faith in expertise, rationalism, and progress. Rise of mass communication industries.

Post Modern Era (1950s - present)

Characterized by growing skepticism about expertise and the idea of progress. Growing political and cultural populism.

Media Literacy

A critical process that takes us through the steps of description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement.

Affordances

The features or capabilities of a technology that help establish how we use it.

Consensus Narratives

Stories that reflected certain values and assumptions about what that world is and should be like. In the process, they helped establish a mainstream American culture and identity.

Criticical Process

Description: taking notes, paying close attention, and researching the subject under study,

Analysis: discovering and focusing on significant patterns that emerge from the description stage.

Interpretation: asking and answering, “what does that mean?” and “so what?” questions about one’s findings.

Evaluation: arriving at a judgement about whether something is good, bad, or mediocre which involves subordinating one’s personal taste to the critical “bigger picture” resulting from the first three stages.

Engagement: taking some action that connects our critical perspective with our role as citizens to question our media institutions, adding our own voice to the progress of shaping the cultural environment.