Intro to Comm & Media - Test #2

acta diurna

In the Roman Empire, these were daily public notices posted in the center of the city. They informed people about events, political and social news, etc.

gazettes

Local newsletters full of gossip and speculation (like many blogs and newsletters today).

Publick Occurrences

The first multipage newspaper in the American colonies. It was banned after just one issue because it criticized the authorities (1690).

commercial shopping news and the “partisan press”

The two main types of early American newspapers.

commercial shopping news

This was mostly of interest to people in shipping and business.

“partisan press”

These papers were sponsored by political parties and politicians, and promoted their points of view.

The newspapers were sold for just one cent, making them far cheaper than earlier papers.

The reason for the name “penny press.”

They democratized news by making it affordable to the masses and shifting journalism toward sensational, human-interest, and crime-focused reporting.

The significance of the “penny press.”

yellow journalism

A style of news coverage and promotion that put sensationalism (Crime! Corruption! Sleaze! Sex!) and exciting the readers’ emotions over plain, boring facts and information (late 1800s-early 1900s).

Hutchins Commission report on Freedom of the Press

A 1947 study arguing that the press must serve the public good by providing accurate, contextual, and responsible journalism to sustain a healthy democracy.

The “inverted pyramid” structure and style of journalistic coverage:
1. The lead - The most important information about an event.
2. The body - The crucial information expanding the topic.
3. The tail - Extra information.

The Hutchins Commission report on Freedom of the Press’s connection to the modern idea of “objective journalism.”

late 1870s

When recorded music technology was first developed.

early 1900s

When recorded music technology became a mass medium.

They are all rooted in marginalized communities using limited resources to create new, rebellious forms of expression that challenged mainstream culture and reshaped popular music.

What connects the roots of the 20th-21st century music genres like disco, hip-hop, and punk?

early 1900s

When radio was first developed.

1920s (after WWI)

When radio became a mass medium.

Guglielmo Marconi

Credited inventor of radio.

Enabled ships to send distress signals over long distances, and its use during the sinking demonstrated both the life-saving potential and the urgent need for standardized radio communication protocols.

Connection between “wireless telegraphy” and a famous incident like the sinking of the Titanic.

KDKA, Pittsburgh

The first commercial radio station (1922).

The Federal Radio Commission

FRC

The Federal Communications Commission

FCC

early 1930s-early 1950s

The “Golden Age of Radio.”

border blasters

Extremely high-powered radio stations, positioned on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border (outside U.S. regulations). These stations could reach much of the U.S., and broadcasted a mix of popular music, religious programming, and medical information/advertising.

Technological advances like the transistors and broadcasting on the FM band.

They made radios smaller, cheaper, higher-fidelity, and more accessible, helping radio become a portable, music-focused mass medium.

late 1940s-early 1950s

When movies became a mass medium.

middle-class viewers

The main audiences for early movies.

the studio system

Movie companies sought to control the whole process of making and showing movies: production, distribution, and exhibition. Also known as “vertical integration.”

Its groundbreaking cinematic techniques and epic scale, but blatantly racist portrayal of Black Americans and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan.

Why “Birth of a Nation” was both famous and infamous.

late 1920s

The end of the silent movie era.

newsreels

Short films shown in theaters that presented current events, human-interest stories, and wartime footage to audiences before the main feature.

late 1950s-1960s

The “Golden Age of Hollywood.”

Hays Code

A set of strict moral guidelines governing content in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s.

modern rating system (G, PG, R, etc.)

Emerged after the Hays Code was abandoned.

auteur

The idea that the director is a kind of creative visionary, equal to the author of a novel, not just one piece in the movie-making machine.

Jaws

Generally considered the first blockbuster.

The economic and cultural importance of blockbuster movies.

Generating massive box-office revenue and merchandising, and culturally important for shaping popular trends, global media consumption, and shared entertainment experiences.