Mass Comm Exam 2 Review

Newspaper

A periodical comes out on a regular basis, contains timely news and information, and targets a general mass audience.

Magazine

A periodical containing a collection of articles, stories, pictures, or other features. Targets a niche audience

General-interest magazines

covers a wide-range of topics aimed at a broad national audience; evergreen stories that have a long shelf life

Special-Interest Magazine

a magazine that targets people with a strong interest in a particular topic

Trade Magazine: focuses on one particular occupation, profession or industry

Consumer Magazine: magazines aimed at people in their private lives

Newsletters: small circulation publications and websites that target a a very niche market aimed at people in professional lives

Academic Journal: Quarterly publications about scholarly topics that are edited by professors and scholars

Comics

Radio

The use of electromagnetic waves to transmit information

television

a system for transmitting visual images and sound that are reproduced on screens, chiefly used to broadcast programs for entertainment, information, and education

Advertising

A written or spoken media message designed to interest consumers in purchasing a product or service. It is ubiquitous (everywhere)

Public Relations

Using various publicity techniques to persuade the public and to manufacture support for a particular cause, movement, organization, or institution. A person or organization attempting to get its viewpoints and perspectives into the public square

Journalism

the timely reporting of events at the local, state, national, and international level

Product Placement

Inclusion of a product in nontraditional situations, such as in a scene in a movie or television program

Database marketing (data mining)

the gathering of data by online purveyors of content and merchandise that sometimes raises ethical issues.

Muckraking

news coverage focusing on exposing corrupt business and government practices; investigative reporter

James Franklin and the New England Courant

first newspaper to challenge authority

Ivy Ledbetter Lee

Said PR should be honest, its a two-way street (persuade and listen), admit mistakes and correct them. Biggest client was John D. Rockefeller, showed him giving dimes to poor children to boost his reputation

Edward Bernays

Made the first college textbook on PR. Said that PR should run on society and should use psychology. Famous for making the color green popular to make people buy Lucky Strike's cigarettes.

Nellie Bly

went undercover in a mental institution to expose the mistreatment of patients

Edward R. Murrow

Showed London being bombed during WWII, was a broadcasting breakthrough

Walter Cronkite

CBS reporter on JFK assassination

Neil Postman

wrote "amusing ourselves to death" meant that we were becoming less engaged in the real world and only focuses on entertainment

Elements of American Journalism

first obligation is to tell the truth

based on the verification of facts

independent of factions

a public forum

makes the significant relevant

provides the public with context

Advertising vs. PR

Advertiser has complete control over how its message is transmitted to the public, PR has limited control. Advertisers messages are visible to public, PR is invisible

Ramifications for America: Should newspapers disappear?

Gov. corruption would rise, voter turnout decline, candidates for office would decline, lose significant amount of investigative journalism, lose original journalism.

What is happening to newspaper advertising?

It is declining, digital advertising revenue growing

Which of the mass media professions receive protection under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

All professions involved in news gathering and spreading information to the public

How do newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV make most of their money?

Advertising, selling ad space or airtime to businesses

What is the relationship between journalists and public relations?

They are usually in conflict because PR people are trying to spin journalists, and journalists are trying to get the dirt on the companies/celebrities/or organizations that the PR person represents

The five phases of newspaper history

Colonial Newspaper

- first newspapers in American colonies, mostly foreign news, run by gov. or local print shops

Partisan Press

- funded and run by political parties, filled with opinion pieces instead of news

Penny Press

- First commercial newspaper, sold on street for a penny, targeted mass audience, first known mass media in US

The New Journalism

- Big headlines started, illustrations, investigative journalism, made money from ads and street sales

Modern Newspaper

- became serious and credible, most money from advertising, more in-depth, very popular through 20th century, starting to fall off.

The five types of specialized magazines

Trade magazines, consumer magazines, academic journals, newsletters, and comic books.

Philosophies of Lee and Bernays when it comes to PR

Lee said it should be honest, its a two-way street (persuade and listen), admit mistakes and correct them

Bernay's said experts should run society, to use psychology, truth in relative, and engineer consent

Values and ideology of advertising

free market capitalism, conspicuous consumption and self indulgence, envy, fear, self-centeredness, materialism, individuals over family, youthfulness, female body used to sell through sex, women portrayed as possession

Values and ideology of journalism

American journalism operates under an ideology of "objectivity" (reporters must be detached from story), journalism must provide the audience with all sides of a story, reporters must be neutral bystanders, not participants in the news,

News should include things that are timely, prominence, proximity, conflict, importance, deviant.

Values and ideology of television

- TV favors visuals and has an ideology of emotion rather than rationality

- TV has bias in favor of images, action and entertainment

- TV only presents messages that are entertaining

The four phases of radio history

Amateur and Educational Radio

- started with people using it or ships and people on shore, became popular after titanic, used at universities to broadcast educational programs, people would dial through to find voices for fun

The Birth of Commercial Radio

- companies started to recognize radio and began opening stations, used for election results, and ran first commercial during this era and realized advertising is where the money is

Age of Radio Networks

- collection of radio stations that all air same programming at the same time

- would read off news, eventually hired reporter to report directly

- TV steals radio because its the same but with pictures

Age of format Radio

- only one kind of programming rather than a wide variety of programming

- designed to niche audiences, target certain advertisers

- commercial and public radio

Differences between private and public radio stations

Private Radio (80% of US radio stations)

- Radio station owned by a private for-profit corp

- Makes money by selling airtime to advertisers

- The main goal is profit

Public

- Radio funded by taxpayers, donations, corps, and non-profits

- The main goal is to provide public service

- Owned by universities, nonprofits, school districts, local/state gov.

- Trump cut all taxpayer funds

Four functions of a corporate communications department

Issues licenses, assigns radio frequencies, fines owners who violate FCC regulations, and takes citizens' complaints against radio and TV stations.

corporate "social responsibility"

The notion that corporations are expected to go above and beyond following the law and making a profit

"Crying Indian" and "Mothers Against Drunk Driving."

PR campaigns

"Crying India" helped to stop people from littering and take responsibility.

"Mothers Against Drunk Driving" supported victims and raised awareness about drunk driving. Their campaign eventually passed legislation to stop drunk driving.

The Communication Act of 1934

established the Federal Communications Commission, which replaced the FRC. The FCC regulated radio, telephones, telegraphs, and later on television cable and internet.

The Federal Communications Commission and its powers

Issues licenses, assigns radio frequencies, fines owners who violate regulations, and takes citizens' complaints against radio and TV stations (cursing)

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

deregulated the industry, aiming to promote competition, lower prices, and improve services by allowing local telephone companies to offer long-distance and cable services

The four phases of TV development

Birth of Visual Radio

- Grows from radio, consists of local independent stations and three national networks

Era of Network Dominance

- dominated by ABC, NBC, and CBS, a near monopoly on TV, stole radio ideas, would play the national anthem before ending air, the first TV program was Meet the Press

Rise of Cable TV

- more cable operators and stations compete with three major, the government loosens regulations, rise of HBO, Turner Broadcasting Network, CNN, MTV, Fox,

The Digital Era and Fragmentation of TV

- niche audiences, effectively sell audiences to advertisers, families rarely watch TV together, and few TV shows generate community-wide interest

How did the movie industry develop

Started with a bet that a horse doesn't have all its feet in the air at once between California governor Leland Stanford and a friend. Photographer Eadweard Muybridge helped to prove this by taking multiple photos of a horse running, all in a fast motion

How the movie industry makes money

Selling movies to theaters (block booking), merchandise, and box office sales, selling rights to streaming services, and tentpoles (films that studios bank on being hits in order to offset losses on other riskier films)

The rise of independent films

Wider circulation of movies made outside Hollywood

Distributing the work of independent producers