UIOWA Media and Society Midterm 1 Review

technological determinism

a theory that is an answer to the question about what shapes society

assumes that a society's technology determines the development of its social structure and cultural values

tries to understand how technology has had an impact on human action and thought

technological dystopia

the belief that technologies will create social ills

focuses on vulnerable populations

sees technology as a social problem

technological utopia

the belief that technologies will solve all social problems

tends to focus on the well-to-do

see technology as the root of human progress

media

institutionally based and technologically-supported forms of organizing communication, culture, information, and data

technology: infrastructure and interface

institutions: commercial (process human communication for commercial ends) and regulatory (shape the rules under which media organization operate)

mass communication

communication to a large audience that is transmitted by media

content media

ex: radio broadcasting

point-to-point

one-to-one communication with specific people rather than a mass audience

conduit media

ex: radio telegraphy

content media

delivery of entertainment of information; some speech protections

news

books

magazines

letters

voice conversation

cinema

broadcasting

conduit media

altering the relationship between the public and the private worlds; provides for distant communication; one-to-one; natural monopolies; telephone, satellite, internet, public utility; no speech protections

ocean steam packet

river steamboat

railroad

telegraph

telephone

radiotelegraphy

traffic

early 19th century: the transportation of persons, vehicles, or vessels along a road, railway, or other route

end of 19th century: the transmission of messages or signals through a communication system (emerged in the context of telegraphy and the telephone system); information travels rather than physical objects

timeline (emergence of telegraphy, telephony, radio (point-to-point vs. broadcasting), television

telegraphy (1844):

point-to-point communication through airways; mainly used by shipping lines and navies to communicate in morse code (subscription-based)

telephony (1876):

allows voice and/or active communication between two-points; telephone industries marketed to individuals for practicality

radio broadcasting (~1901):

combination of interface and infrastructure (sets, towers, and hard-wired cable connecting networks and local TV stations); locally or nationally produced for mass audiences (advertiser based)

television (1927):

content media that delivered local news, various forms of entertainment, etc.

the relationship between transportation and communications until the late 19th century, the importance of the telegraph

before the telegraph, transportation of persons was through vehicles, or vessels along a road, railway or other route and that was the way of communication

at the end of the 19th century, messages and signals were transmitted by the telegraph which allowed for point-to-point communication

new technologies are never so new as we think (precursors, inferiority, slow diffusion, the role of organization and administration + examples)

1. technologies always have precursors: when radio broadcasting was introduced in the 1920s, it was in some ways a revolutionary technology; however, the railroad was the first mass medium for the live "broadcast" of the human voice

2. inferiority: the telegraph, for example, was instantaneous when it worked, but when it didn't it was not efficient

3. slow diffusion: priority of economy over technology; millions of dollars and years go into the development for new media technologies to be invented, refined, and introduced in society w/out clear evidence that the particular technology is likely to fulfill an existing need

4. organization / admin: behind the cell phone is an elaborate network of cell towers, satellites, computer things that make up the elements of a phone AND an elaborate set of contracts that allow a company to use the networks of others

the Home of the Future - important predictions, major misses

the Home of the Future envisioned society as being a technological utopia in which technology would improve our lives

why new technologies are too new

they only extrapolate from current technologies

they mis-recognize what is most revolutionary

they have hidden properties

the impact of the telegraph on the newspaper industry

the telegraph significantly helped/improved the newspaper industries because they were able to get news out sooner and as fast as ever before

from wireless telegraphy to radio - explain how institutional transformation brought about a different medium

wireless telegraphy was a type of conduit media, only allowing for point-to-point communication via airways

to reach mass audiences and develop more content media, institutions began to transform their communication style and thus, radio broadcasting was a new medium that was able to transmit voice, music, and popular entertainment over the airways for hundreds and thousands of miles (one-to-many)

the telephone industry until 1983, product vs. service, what it was selling, major companies

bell system was the most important company: these types of industries drive toward a monopoly

practicality vs. sociability, customers using the telephone for "visiting," the impact of the telegraph model on the use of the telephone

how the telephone industry imagined the uses for technology 100 years ago

practicality: a way that the telephone industries made the service to ordinary users at first; men and businessmen; managing the business of the household; subscribing the telephone allowing you to contact emergency services

sociability: when people use the telephone in personal relationships to keep in touch with friends and families; telephone industries could not imagine why anybody would use the phone for this purpose; mostly women, complete waste of time

FIRST marketed as practicality and NOW marketed as sociability

unique features of networked industries: network effects, natural monopoly (definition)

network effects: the use of a service by any user increases the value of the service for other users

natural monopoly: a single firm provides the service most efficiently (The Bell System 1876-1983)

The social network (example)

facebook - transformed the entire social network

the common carrier regulatory framework

networks are essential to interstate and foreign commerce

required to serve all customers without discrimination

telephony vs. radiotelegraphy vs. broadcasting (see Empire of the Air)

radiotelegraphy and telephony (communicates the human voice) exist before broadcasting, and later combine to produce the broadcast, a form of mass communication

the social construction of technology perspective

the society in which new media technology is introduced decides how the technology is used and the effects of new technologies

mass culture (definition, origins, conditions for its development)

cultural products that are both mass-produced and for mass audiences (industries make mass culture not people)

differences between high culture, folk and mass culture

folk culture → culture of the poor and uneducated

high culture (the aristocracy) → culture of the elites, beautiful, fine art, and poetry

mass culture → culture of the middle class, bland and inoffensive, popular music, television, and films

mass culture was created after folk & high culture

the impact of mass culture on high culture, on children, on adults

mass culture is parasitic

high culture is mixed in with mass culture

children were overstimulated

adults experienced infantile regression

homogenized culture

emerging despite ethnic leaders arguing that cultures must be preserved

fears about television in the 1950s-1960s as reflected in the Pedestrian

the story raises concerns about man's growing addiction to television in which people would spend hours sitting in front of their TV sets day and night

human interaction is extremely minimal

society is completely consumed in technology

the three key elements of the American system of commercial broadcasting

1. loosely regulated - regulation only reaches the stations

2. network-dominated -

network vs. affilate

3. advertiser-supported -

dual product market; "you become the product"

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

a government agency created in 1934 to regulate American radio stations and later expanded to regulate television, wireless communications technologies, and other broadcast media.

standard setting, spectrum allocation

standard setting → technical standards for transmitters and receivers that everybody has to follow (scanning line, aspect ratio, etc.)

spectrum allocation → the governmental task of reserving certain portions of the radio spectrum for particular uses, such as AM radio, VHF television, and satellite communications

broadcast television as "a lock-and-key system"

TV broadcasting as opposed to other media because of limited spectrum. Idea that the transmitter must be synchronized with the receiver; regulatory development, how these specific characteristics being regulated

the reason for the three-network oligopoly of the post-war television industry: the basis of successful commercial station operations, the reason for this, define localism

three national networks:

1. NBC

2. CBS

3. ABC

population density - the most important factor in successful commercial operation; since the industries are selling audiences to advertisers, there needs to be a lot of people in a particularly lucrative market to be sold to advertisers

FCC promotes localism - every community should have a broadcast station whether they could support them commercially or not

network vs. affiliate, examples

network - broadcasting to the whole country; expensive; national networks; mass media; more restricted

affiliate - broadcasting locally, inexpensive, local channels, less restricted

the study of mass communication as an "interdisciplinary" field

seeks to provide comprehensive knowledge of the nature of human communication, the symbols and systems by which it functions, the environments in which it occurs, its media, and its effects

the hypodermic needle model

a model of media effects, also called the "magic bullet," that claims media messages have a profound, direct, and uniform impact on the public; for instance, we watch something and it instantly becomes part of our thinking

two-step flow model (limited effects theory)

the idea that messages pass from the media, through opinion leaders, to opinion followers

the role of the two-step flow model role in discussions about the mass society

convert

reinforce

activate

the effects of television violence: the Bobo doll experiment

bandura had shown that children, when exposed to televised violence, exhibited the aggressive behavior they had observed - hitting, kicking, and using hostile language

four effects of TV violence:

1. teaches aggressive styles of conduct

2. weakens restraint against aggression by glamorizing violence

3. habituates and desensitizes reactions to cruelty

4. shapes our images of reality

similarities and differences between the partisan press, yellow journalism and objective journalism

partisan press:

1. party, subsidy

2. funded by political parties

3. wealthy, educated people (mostly men)

4. presidential address, treasury reports

yellow press:

1. street sales

2. middle & working class

3. sensational, crime, investigative

objective journalism:

1. street sales

2. middle & upper class

3. specialized, professional (stock markets)

the objective ideal - characteristics

1. detached observation - journalists are reporting on events

2. the separation of fact and value - best represented by distinguishing between news copy and the editorial pages

3. accuracy - the culture of facts; journalists should report on whatever happened

4. impartiality - journalists should cover all sides fairly with equal attention and understanding of the issues

gatekeeping

the activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something; "filter then publish"

agenda setting theory and its methods (content analysis and surveys)

a theory of salience transmission; the media influences what we think ABOUT, but not HOW we think

content analysis → measuring the frequency of manifest media content based on agreed-upon definitions

survey method → the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions; established opinions and attitudes

the media agenda, the public agenda and the historical agenda; the relationship between these

the media agenda: the way news organizations order political objects; news coverage

the public agenda: voters' concerns

the historical agenda: what happens at any given time

framing (definition, examples)

frame: an organizing principle that gives a person a way to interpret some event, issue, or other political objects

detected in:

1. the amount of coverage

2. types of issues addressed

3. tone of disapproval/approval

the First Amendment (the rights it protects, the entity it restricts, who interprets what it means)

freedom of speech

freedom of press

freedom of assembly

freedom of religion

freedom of petition

the first amendment protects you from the government, NOT independent companies

the supreme court decides what is constitutional

key differences between the British and the U.S. legal traditions re: criticism of the government

British - you can't say what you want; it has to be filtered; truth is no defense

US - you have the right to say what you want, and you are not filtered, but there can be consequences; truth is a defense

prior restraint (definition, examples, how it works in newspapers vs. broadcasting) actual malice standard (who it applies to, when those people can sue the news media, impact on the legal protections available to the news media)

the idea that the government is not allowed to stop the publication of information before it has the chance to see the light of day

post-publication, however, allows public officials, public figures, etc. to sue and file for a civil lawsuit

broadcasting starts with prior restraint

4 theories explaining why we protect speech and the press

1. the absolutist - adhere to the text of the constitution

2. the marketplace model - we as people are on a search for truth, and if there is free speech, we can find the truth

3. personal autonomy - individual fulfillment

4. self government -having free speech and protecting the freedom of the press gives people freedoms as informed voters

political polarization (definition and its impact on perceptions of the press)

political polarization refers to cases in which an individual's stance on a given issue, policy, or person is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a particular political party; these activists then influence politicians to become more conservative or liberal on their stances.

culture (definition, contrast with MacDonald)

a collection of signs/symbols of expression that we use to make sense of daily life

the location of meaning according to the cultural approach

isolated within the culture

the social construction of reality perspective

reality is unknowable except through culture - media and language create reality; no reality without culture

ex: you cannot just have an apple without a culture giving you an understanding about it

culture is the signs and symbols used to represent things in daily life.

sign (denotative, connotative levels), code, semiotics

sign - unit of meaning

denotation - literal (dictionary) definition of a word

connotation - the implied or associative meaning of a word

code - the framework within which signs make sense

semiotics - the study of signs, a form of textual analysis

representation (definition, in mass media)

"the social process of representing; representations are the products of the social process of representing. The term refers, therefore, both to the process and to the product of making "signs" stand for their meanings"

the process of putting into concrete forms (TV show or speech) an abstract ideological concept

the theory of cultural hegemony (definition of hegemony, hegemony as a process)

the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a "dominant" group and results in common sense (dominant classes to exercise social and cultural leadership)

a process that makes the dominance of certain groups or ideas in society seem normal, natural, or inexorable

common sense (ex. separate spheres reinforced by law, (Casablanca) myth (ex. Never Stop Winning)

a category of knowledge whose 'truth' is proposed as obvious, natural, inevitable, eternal, unarguable and 'what we always/already know'

common sense is the result of hegemonic struggle

casablanca - angle the camera lower to perceive men as taller than women

myth - fundamental stories that cultures tell themselves about who they are

three dimensions of power, the role of symbolic power

1. decision, behavior - I do what you want me to do besides my best judgement

2. decision, behavior + what gets on the political agenda -

power to keep stuff off the agenda; the house passes a bill, but the senate will not take it up for discussion - so, power over certain people

3. A has power over B "by influencing, shaping or determining his very wants" (Lukes, 2005, p.146)

- Symbolic power - the power of constructing reality

television as "a cultural forum" (ex.Roseanne reboot)

television programs bring up cultural topics and audiences serve as interpretive communities who personally respond to the issues being discussed

the methods of the cultural approach

semiotics: the study of signs, a form of textual analysis

representation

social scientific approach

orientation: scientific

origins: psychology

focus: processes & effects

definition of communication: the transmission of information

relationship between language & reality: meaning realism: language is a mirror to reality/a conduit

the philosophical approach to that study of communication that involves determinism, as well as specific theoretical and methodological commitments

social scientific terms: sender, message, channel, receivers

social scientific methods: survey, experiment, content analysis

cultural approach

orientation: humanities

origins: cultural anthropology, literary theory

focus: representation

definition of communication: the production of shared and contested meanings

relationship between language & reality: language represents reality

reality is unknowable except through culture; language creates reality, rather than a direct representation; the focus is on what is being said in texts, video, etc.; examines how we can be influenced to care about something

short term (imitation) vs. long-term theories about the effects of media violence (desensitization, mean world syndrome)

short term:

imitation

ex: bobo doll experiment

long term: desensitization (more tolerance to violence)

"mean world" (cultivation theory) - the more time people spend “living” in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality aligns with reality portrayed on television; creates a lingering fear

contextual clues to increase/decrease of risk of harmful effects: justification, realism and punishment (with examples)

1. justification - is the violence seen in media justified?

ex: self-defense

2. realism - pain cues?

ex: it's visible that victim is suffering; if it Is not visible, then the violence is less likely to have harmful effects

3. punishment - remorse or penalty at the time violence occurred?

ex: if violence is punished, then that violence is less likely to have harmful effects because the show is not presenting it as a model for the audience to follow

content analysis vs. textual analysis

content analysis: coding/measuring manifest media content; importance of frequency

textual analysis: close reading and interpretation of meanings; importance of context

mass media as a dual product market

two products - content from media companies is sold to media advertisers - focuses on audience measurement - advertiser supported. advertisers are the customers.

the audience as an "intangible" commodity (definition, the seller, the product and the buyer)

has to be transformed into a calculable object

intangibles:

seller: network

product: you (quantified)

customer: advertiser

ratings (definition, comparison between 1950s and today, why they are important)

the audience of a particular program or station at a specific period of time expressed as a percent of the audience population

advertisers' vs. networks' interest in audience measurement

networkers involved in audience management want to provide the most appealing content for an audience

the Nielsen Company (its role, why it's necessary)

highly trusted, research company that conducts surveys of media consumption; communicates what users are watching what, how often, what is profitable, what is not, etc