Media and Society Exam 1

“Seeing the air” - class framing for critical media literacy

it's not just about the messages that are in front of you, but about noticing the messages that are “in the air” but never articulated — the patterns of what does and doesn't get produced and disseminated (relates to the cheesecloth analogy)

Media

refers to all electronic or digital means, or in print, or artistic visuals used to transmit message

Medium

is an intervening material or substance through which something else is conveyed — something stands between you and your direct experience of an event.

Cheesecloth analogy

when making cheese, you pour the cheese mixture through a cheesecloth, which keeps some things and discards others. Media works the same way — not everything “makes it through the screen.” This correlates to which stories get told, whose voices get heard, and what gets left out.

Example of the cheesecloth analogy

with a news story, what you know is only what reporters/outlets can tell you (in writing, on TV, on social media); if you were actually part of the event, you recognize how much got left out

Media literacy

the ability to encode (construct) and decode (deconstruct/analyze) the symbols transmitted via media, and to synthesize, analyze, and competently produce media messages — understanding why you're doing what you're doing (the same underlying principles as writing well).

Lived experiences are all different, how does this affect content

Who gets to produce content shapes which perspectives get made. “Blind casting” (casting without regard to an actor's background) was mentioned as one attempt to counter this, though it's still described as fairly unusual in the industry.

Representation in media

growing up without seeing Asian representation in media beyond a narrow set of roles (e.g., the Yellow Ranger, Lucy Liu- and Jackie Chan-type martial arts roles); even playing dress-up as a kid, there was “no Asian Spice Girl” to be. Early in her career, available auditions were mostly for stereotyped roles // Older industry joke referenced in class; roughly 95% of available roles were written for white men, the next-largest share went to animal characters, and everyone else — including women and women of color — competed for what remained.

Studies show we learn our “place in the world” from what we consume

the films, TV shows, and books we watch/read can shape the careers we pursue, our hobbies and interests, and even choices like whether or who we marry.

5 key concepts of media literacy

1. All media messages are “constructed.”. 2. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules, 3. Different people experience the same media message differently, 4. Media have embedded values and points of view, 5. Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power

5 key questions to ask

1. who created this message?, 2. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?, 3.How might different people understand this message differently than me?, 4. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?, 5. Why is this message being sent

Do’s and don’t’s of media literacy for life

do think about who created the message and why, don’t assume that messages are neutral - they never are, do evaluate the message for its creative elements, don’t think that everyone interprets a message the same way you do, do look for the point of view and values communicated through the message, don’t settle for a media made only by for and about people in economic political or social power, do be aware of the media you consume how much and why, don’t be a media hater – it's here to stay - use it and know why you’re using it

Why are we wired for social media

We ache for our smartphones when they aren’t on hand. Why? Because we are wired for it. The reward-based dopamine pathways in our brain become active when we are anticipating or experiencing a positive event, like eating a slice of good pizza, listening to a favorite song, connecting on our smartphone with a good friend or spending time with a romantic interest. Dopamine, an evolutionary tool to help us humans, motivates us to want more.

Cognitive research shows that dopamine pathways are lit up by social stimuli that are the essence of social media, such as laughing faces, expressions of maternal and romantic love, and positive emotional expressions (Krach et al., 2010). So we keep coming back for more. “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works,” said Chamath Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive and CEO and founder of Social Capital (Haynes, 2018).

Intermittent reinforcement

the delivery of a reward at irregular intervals – It’s the unpredictability and the possibility of a random reward that keeps us checking our phones constantly

The value of attention

The sheer scarcity of human attention is what makes management of it so important. In the modern digital economy of interrupting pings and pop-up notices, attention is the commodity of the day.

Just checks

taking a moment to “just check” our email/texts/Facebook accounts/Instagram feeds/YouTube channels in case something important has come through. – “Each one of those just checks shifts your attention,” Newport wrote. “Even if this shift is brief (think

Media multitasking

Simultaneously engaging with different media, be it television, print, videos, music, social media, email or searching the Web

Why is media multitasking bad

simply seeing a smartphone (not even using it) lowers working memory capacity and leads to decreased performance in cognitive tasks, due to the fact that part of the working memory resources are busy ignoring the phone. In addition, the more that people use their smartphones in a multitasking modus (switching quickly between different engagements of the mind), the easier they respond to distraction and indeed perform more poorly in task-switching exams than users who rarely try to multitask. // Multitasking causes the new information to go to the wrong part of the brain

when we are media multitasking we are

Less able to filter out distractions, More likely to be preoccupied with irrelevant information in memory storage, Less efficient when switching from one task to another.

Filter bubbles

situations in which internet users encounter only information and opinions that conform to and reinforce their own beliefs. Filter bubbles happen due to algorithms that, while not by design, result in the separation of things we likely agree with and those we don’t. Over time, that ideological separation gets amplified as the algorithm pushes the ideas and values we prefer and that we tend to share. These algorithms on social media and in search engines send us news and information with which we agree and isolate us from opposing viewpoints. The end result

Echo chamber

an environment in which we only encounter information or opinions that reflect and reinforce our own. Another example of an echo chamber is joining a group of people that have the same opinions as you do.

Serendipity

Unplanned, unanticipated encounters of views other than your own

Free marketplace of ideas

Established as a founding principle very early on, in colonial America — a direct reaction against England, where colonists could not hear anything other than what the Crown said was true and could not practice whatever religion they wanted. It mattered enough that people were willing to leave the country over it. // Holds that truth will emerge from the competition of ideas in a free, transparent public discourse; ideas and ideologies get “culled” or removed according to whether they're good or bad and how widely accepted they become. // Assumes citizens are exposed to a full range of ideas and are “smart enough” to pick the ones that resonate with them; that exposure is also why voting matters — we choose representatives whose views reflect the range of ideas we've encountered.

Importance of the first amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances // you can’t say speech that would endanger troops/national security, and speech that creates unnecessary panic (e.g., falsely yelling “fire” in a crowded theater).

The government cannot regulate speech

Applies to every arm of government — not just the federal government, but local government and law enforcement (police, sheriff's departments) as well. // Citizens have the right to peaceably assemble and to protest.

Free marketplace of ideas v. economic marketplace

a tension where what's best for a free marketplace of ideas doesn't always match what's most profitable for media companies.

Why were there media regulations in the past

In the United States, regulations were put in place --with specific goal of ensuring diverse content

Ownership limits, especially of BROADCAST radio and television

The “7-7-7 rule” – any one owner could own a total of only 7 FM stations, 7 AM stations, and 7 television stations across the entire country

Why was the 7-7-7 rule needed

Broadcast signals occupy a scarce, fixed range on the electromagnetic spectrum; stations placed too close together on the dial would overlap and interfere, so not everyone who wanted to run a station could have one // Limiting how many stations one owner could hold was meant to spread ownership across more people/companies — the assumption being that diverse ownership would produce diverse content and viewpoints. Licenses were granted by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).

Why is the 7-7-7 rule no longer needed

• The arrival of cable and satellite technology exponentially increased the number of possible channels — from a handful of over-the-air stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS) to potentially hundreds of channels — so Congress assumed more channels would automatically mean more diversity of expression, that all viewpoints would find some outlet // • Media companies that already owned stations also lobbied Congress, arguing (from the economic marketplace side) that they could make more money if ownership restrictions were lifted, since owning more stations lets a company run the same programming across multiple stations and get a higher return on programming costs. The restrictions were ultimately removed.

In the past, how would companies obtain or renew broadcast licenses

1. Prove they Act In the Public Interest, Convenience, and Necessity" (No longer enforced; stations had to demonstrate this when applying for or renewing a license) 2. • Follow the "Ascertainment Rule" (No longer in use; required broadcasters to actively ask people in their target market/community whether the station was meeting their needs and serving the public interest.), 3. Abide by the "Fairness Doctrine" (No longer in use; obligated media owners to give equal time to all sides of an issue on the same station/channel/network, so that listening to just one station would expose you to a diverse range of viewpoints. Its disappearance is part of why audiences today tend to be funneled toward a single perspective instead of encountering multiple viewpoints through one outlet.)

Why does public interest have different definitions

perhaps to accomplish a Free Marketplace of Ideas VS Economic Marketplace // Should we define as diversity of expression??? OR as the obligation to maximize profits for shareholders???

Incentives and programming

Content that best serves the free marketplace of ideas does not always maximize revenue — the two goals don't always line up, which shapes what kinds of programming actually get made.

Role of media, especially print journalism, in democracy

Historically, the government subsidized the delivery (not the content) of news through cheap postal rates, because getting news and information to citizens — “regardless of the content” — was considered important enough to support, without appearing to favor one viewpoint over another.

Media consolidation

the concentration of the ownership of media outlets, creating an oligopoly, which is a state of limited competition.

Why do we care about media consolidation

The result of these mergers are hybrids that not only produce the media, but globally distribute, track and market the media to consumers everywhere.

3 types of media consolidation

horizontal integration, vertical integration, cross promotion

horizontal integration

an acquisition or merger between two companies operating in the same industry, such as when social media giant Facebook acquired competitor Instagram.

Vertical integration

means that a company owns more than one aspect of a product’s production. For example, a company might own the studio that makes the shows and the television channel on which those shows are aired, or it might own the studio and the cinemas that the movies are shown in, or the cable TV channel on which its movies and shows rerun.

Cross-promotion

a form of marketing in which customers of one product—say, an animated movie—are marketed with related products. // Ex - An animated character in a popular movie will show up everywhere in cross-promotion efforts, including on kids’ T-shirts, toys, bedding and dishware.

Hegemony

The social, cultural, ideological and/or economic influence exerted by a dominant group upon less-dominant groups or societies

The bottom line for transnational media companies

revenue. The motivation of publicly traded media corporations (remember, big mass entertainment media conglomerates are largely based in the United States but function globally) is to serve shareholders.

Government regulation

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates media ownership. The regulation limits the ability of one company to own various kinds of communication and media outlets in a given geographic region. The idea is that if one company owns all the media channels in one region, the residents in that region potentially only get one point of view, especially when it comes to news and information. With its broadcast media ownership rules, the FCC says it tries to promote localism and competition by restricting the number of media outlets that a single entity may own or control within a local geographic market.

Pros of government regulation of media ownership

concentrated media ownership quashes diversity of programming, ideas, the watchdog role of journalists and the ability for individual communities to receive relevant local content.

Cons of government regulation of media ownership

limits on media ownership would not only result in content control of media but would also be unnecessary, as there is diversity of media voices now (Compaine, 1979). With the World Wide Web, it is much easier to get various opinions and information online; we aren’t as dependent as we once were on a local newspaper or a local TV station to provide information and news.

Parity

describes the condition of equal representation; in this case, the number of women and people of color in creative roles compared to the overall U.S. population

One reason why diversity is not very common in media

women and people of color continued to receive less funding for their projects than their white male counterparts // Men are more often than women the well-paid stars of major movies. “Straight white men dominate comic books, both on and off the page,”

Diversity pays

“audiences of color are becoming an increasingly important market anchor, and diverse content sells. America’s increasingly diverse audiences prefer diverse film and television content”

Concentration/consolidation of ownership

With ownership limits removed and cable/satellite expanding channel capacity, media companies moved toward owning more stations, since running the • same content across more owned stations is more cost-efficient and profitable.

Conglomerate owners

Made up of a number of different companies, all owned by the same (corporate) parent company // Ownership by large corporations // Typically, also own non-media companies // Often Publicly owned (traded on the stock market), so legally obligated to maximize profits for shareholders // Treat media companies the same as any other company in the portfolio // Issue - media companies- not making “widgets” // media content helps shape our understanding of the world

Technological convergence

when different media formats (film, VHS tapes, cassettes, etc.) all converted to digital

Economic convergence

Merger/Acquisition activity by the media conglomerates // leading to increasingly consolidated ownership (fewer and fewer owners of more and more of the existing media outlets)

Who is the media system Largely funded by advertising/sponsorship

Since U.S. media isn't directly subsidized by the government for content, the system is funded largely by advertising, subscriptions, and direct payment

Data-mining our online behaviors; selling that data

Referred to in class as the “surveillance economy” — a newer funding source beyond advertising, subscriptions, and direct payment, to be discussed further in the social media unit.

News as a credence good

1. Search or Inspection Goods –examine to determine quality

(EX

Picking out an apple at the grocery store), 2.Experience Goods—must consume/experience to determine quality (EX