Study Guide: Understanding Media Industries Core Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from Pages 1–4 of the notes.

Media (Turow)

Platforms or vehicles industries use to create and circulate messages; media equals technology, not content.

Mass Production Process

Industrial process enabling messages to reach millions or billions at the same time.

Communication

Interaction involving messages.

Interpersonal Communication

Communication between 2–3 people, face-to-face.

Mediated Interpersonal Communication

Communication between people aided by a medium (phone, Zoom).

Mass Communication

Industrialized, tech-based, one-to-many dissemination of messages.

Industrialization of Culture

Theme describing how culture becomes organized and produced within an industrial media system.

Channel Fragmentation

More outlets (cable, internet) leading to fragmented audiences.

Audience Segmentation

Content tailored for different groups.

Convergence

Content across platforms; cross-platform distribution (e.g., watching on phones and TV).

Three C’s of Convergence

Content (messages), Corporations (companies), Computers (tools for dissemination).

Content

The messages produced and distributed by media industries.

Corporations

Companies that make and distribute media.

Computers

Digital tools used to disseminate media.

Culture

Shared way of life; media shapes and reflects it.

Media Literacy

Critical thinking skills to analyze media messages and practices.

Authorship (Tools of Media Literacy)

Who made this?

Content (Tools of Media Literacy)

What do you see or hear in the media text?

Audience (Tools of Media Literacy)

Who the text is for or who consumes it.

Purpose (Tools of Media Literacy)

Why the text was made; its intent.

Techniques (Tools of Media Literacy)

How the text persuades or engages; methods used.

Elements of Communication

Source, Encoding, Transmitter, Channel, Receiver, Decoding, Feedback, Noise.

Hypodermic Needle Model

Media injects ideas directly; audiences are passive.

Agenda Setting

Media tells us what to think about.

Payne Fund Studies

Early, flawed research; suggested context matters in media effects.

Limited Effects

Propaganda alone has limited ability to change opinions.

Two-Step Flow

Opinion leaders filter media and influence others.

Uses and Gratifications

Audiences actively use media to satisfy needs.

Priming

Media shapes how we evaluate issues by activating associations.

Frankfurt School

Theorists (Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Benjamin) arguing capitalism controls culture; culture industry; co-optation.

Culture Industry

Under capitalism, media creates passive consumers.

Co-Optation

Capitalism absorbs and repackages revolutionary ideas.

Political Economy

Media reflects the interests of powerful elites.

Cultural Studies (Birmingham School)

Audiences interpret texts differently (polysemy).

Industrialization of Culture Framework

Non-hierarchical, multidirectional model with levels: Culture and Society, Mandates, Conditions, Practices, Texts.

Circumscribed Agency

Workers have freedom but within limits.

Mandates

Funding/aims of media: Commercial Mandate, Non-Commercial Mandates, Government Mandate, Public Mandate, Community/Alternative Mandate.

Commercial Mandate

Paid by advertisers and consumers; dual-product; profit-focused; content aims to avoid controversy.

Non-Commercial Mandates

Government Mandate (state-funded, may serve power); Public Mandate (funded by citizens for diversity/education/safety); Community/Alternative Mandate (local, donation-funded).

Public Broadcasting in the United States

Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds PBS/NPR; not a government agency; vulnerable to politics; public funds via Congress.