MCOM Exam 2

Newspaper

Periodical, regular basis release, contains timely news, targets mass general audience

Magazine

Periodical, regular basis release, content informs and entertains, targets niche audience

Radio

Wireless telegraph used Morse code for ship to shore communication, now mass medium regulated by FCC

Television

Digital to visual radio first dominated by CBS, NBC, ABC

General interest magazine

Covered wide range of topics aimed at broad national audience, evergreen stories had long shelf life, lost revenue as advertisers moved to TV

Special interest magazine (5 types)

Caters to niche audience

Trade magazine - occupation, profession, industry

Consumer magazine - private lives, hobbies, interests

Academic journals - quarterly, about academia by profs and scholars

Newsletters - specific occupations, small circulation

Comic books - fun storytelling publications

Advertising pros & cons

Keeps media products cheap, spurs economy, provides public service

Consumerism, puts everything for sale, manipulates public

Native advertising/sponsored content

Advertising designed to look like news story, fools audience into thinking it is objective journalism

Public Relations

Using various publicity techniques to persuade the public, manufacture support for cause or institution

Trying to get viewpoints across to public and get voice heard

Journalism

Timely reporting of events at local, state, national, and international levels, collecting info that matters, verifying, and reporting

Database marketing/data mining

Consumer buying information from credit card transactions is stored in a store database, analyzed to keep you coming back, and info is sold to advertisers

Muckraking

Slang term for investigative reporting

James Franklin

Wrote New England Courant, first newspaper to challenge local authority (politicians and clergy)

Ivy Ledbetter Lee

Beliefs: PR should be honest, PR is two-way street, mistakes should be admitted and corrected

Biggest client was John D. Rockefeller

Edward Bernays

Beliefs: benevolent experts should run society, PR should use psychology, truth is relative, desirable public opinion can be manufactured

Biggest campaigns were Lucky Strikes and United Fruit

Nellie Bly

Pretended to be insane to get admitted to Blackwell Insane Asylum in NY, exposed horrible conditions and treatment of women, NY allocated funds to try to clean up hospital

Edward R. Murrow

One of the first TV journalists

Reported on WWII for CBS from top of London buildings while bombs were exploding around him, brought the war directly into the public eye

Walter Cronkite

CBS Evening News became trusted source of information, reported on JFK assassination

Neil Postman

Wrote Amusing Ourselves to Death in 1985, believed TV convinced us that the only info worth listening to was what entertains us

Elements of American journalism (6)

First obligation is to tell the truth

Based on verification of facts

Independent of factions

Public forum where people can debate issues

Makes the significant relevant

Provides public with context to understand the significance of coverage

Advertising vs. PR

Advertising has control over transmission, should be visible and transparent

PR messages have limited control, should be invisible to the public

Ramifications of the death of newspapers (6)

We lose original US-produced journalism

Government corruption can increase

Corporations gain more influence over legislation

Voter turnout declines

Less candidates for public office

Loss of investigative journalism

Newspapers as backbone of journalism

Only medium traditionally committed to journalism

At forefront of investigations that affect us

Ex: Watergate, secret surveillance in Bush admin, fraud at Trump Org

What is the only media profession protected by the First Amendment?

Journalism

Trends in newspaper advertising

Newspaper ad revenue is declining, big tech companies benefit from newspaper content but do not credit/pay for info

How newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV make money

They target content to niche audiences so they can better sell their audiences to advertisers

Relationship between journalists and PR people

Usually in conflict because PR tries to spin journalists, PR is inherently opinionated but journalism should be objective

Phases of newspaper history (5)

Colonial newspapers - first in American colonies, did not challenge authority, mouthpieces of the government

Partisan press - loyal to a party, endorsed by politicians, persuasion over information

Penny press - first known mass media in US, first papers that hired reporters, commercial papers, not partisan but not objective

New Journalism - real investigative journalism, yellow journalism, advertising is bigger portion of revenue

Modern newspaper - more serious and credible, most money comes from advertising, objective journalism

Ivy Lee’s major PR campaign

Rockefeller and Standard Oil - attempting to rehabilitate Rockefeller’s reputation, coal miner’s strike led to Ludlow Massacre of 1914, Lee was dishonest in coverage of story

Edward Bernays’ major PR campaigns (2)

Lucky Strikes - convinced fashion industry that green was the color of 1934 to get more women to buy green cigarette package

United Fruit - convinced US gov that Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala was working with Soviets because United Fruit was struggling, US installs dictator, 36-year civil war in Guatemala leaves thousands dead

Values and ideology of advertising

Selling both the product and value system hidden in the ad

Free market capitalism, envy/jealousy, individualism, materialism, youth

Original values of journalism

Timeliness, prominence, proximity, conflict, importance, deviance

Enduring values of journalism

Ethnocentrism, altruistic democracy, responsible capitalism, small town pastoralism, individualism, moderation, objectivity

Phases of radio history (4)

Amateur radio - people had to know how to build radio set

Birth of commercial radio - Westinghouse, AT&T, General Electric opened stations after noticing craze about radio, commercials brought money

Age of radio networks - NBC, CBS, ABC were networks of stations that catered to large mass audience, played variety of content

Age of format radio - stations play one kind of programming, captures specific audience to sell it to advertisers

Radio connection to the Titanic

Titanic used radio for SOS, became international story

Newspapers reported on use of radio in rescue attempt, disaster got public attention

Led to innovation of tech and growth into mass communication system

Private vs. public radio stations

Private - commercial, advertising is business model, 80%

Public - no advertising to make money, funds come from donations, taxpayers, nonprofits, goal is to provide public service, 20%

Functions of corporate communications department (4)

External relations - representing to general public

Internal relations - within company

Media relations - dealing with reporters

Crisis management - handles controversies and crises

Corporate social responsibility

Companies should be operating in responsible and sustainable ways, working to enhance society and environment

Influential PR campaigns

Crying Indian - 1970s PSA against pollution and warning about environmental issues

MADD - founded in 1980 against drunk driving, supports families of victims

Communication Act of 1934

Created FCC to oversee and regulate radio, telephone, and telegraph industries

FCC (4 powers)

Federal Communications Commission

Issues licenses

Assigns radio frequencies

Fines owners who violate regulations

Takes citizen complaints against radio and TV stations

Telecommunications Act of 1996

Promoted competition and reduced regulation of telecommunications industry

Break up monopolies, bring customer costs down, consolidate media, encourage competition

Phases of TV development (4)

Birth of visual radio - first shows broadcast live from NY, formatting stolen from radio, content created by one sponsor

Era of network domination - ABC, CBS, NBC owned or was affiliated with 80% of stations by 1970, TV was not 24/7

Rise of cable - cable operators compete with big 3 networks, government loosens cable regulations, opens doors to HBO, CNN, Fox, MTV

Digital era and fragmentation of TV - niche channels with specific content lets stations sell audience to advertisers, families rarely watch together

Development of the movie industry

Kinetoscopes - early device to let one person view short motion pictures at a time, kinetograph parlors

Silent era - short movies with no dialogue or embedded sound, theaters played recorded music or hired orchestra, movies began to tell a story

Talkies - music and later dialogue was embedded info films, movie themes became more complex, speaking roles led to rise of movie stars

Studio system (3 parts)

Controlled by Big 5

Production/making - assigned actors and directors to projects via long contracts

Distribution/renting out - rented movies to theaters through block booking (A and B list movies)

Exhibition/showing - studios buy local theaters across the country

Big 5 of studio system

Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, RKO

Movie industry response to the rise of TV

Movies covered serious and controversial topics avoided by TV

Technicolor and 3D while TV was still black and white

Movie studios make deals with TV (“for TV” films, limited showing of film in theater then bringing it to TV station)